Spider-Man And His Amazing Brides: AVX
by Sensational Spider-Fan
Summary: The Avengers and X-Men are fighting over the fate of Hope Summers and the Phoenix Force what will Spidey do?


**AVX**

**I apologize if the formatting may be weird when this is posted I just do not have the time to take care of that if it happens an update of the saga is so overdue.**

**You might be wondering why I posted this rather than the next chapter of An Eventful Week. It's because AVX was always going to be the story after it and the idea of adapting a twelve part event I haven't read was quite daunting I decided to just get it out of the way in a single huge (26,500 word chapter) chapter. I needed this story because it serves as a good catalyst for the stories that follow. I've decided that in this universe OMD was memory manipulation rather than time travel since what really happened is still a little up in the air and it's easier to handle creatively since it keeps all previous continuity intact. For those that are curious this story takes place one week after the end of An Eventful Week that is two weeks after the last chapter I posted so far you don't really need to know anything that happened in between at the moment other than that Peter married Sable and Norman has recovered his memory of his secret identity. If you're curious of my progress I am exactly halfway with the next chapter of An Eventful Week and haven't started the epilogue that follows yet. Spider-Men and Family Business II have been added to my plans for Phase 1 the former is a quarter finished. Welcome to Avengers VS. X-Men.**

Peter awoke from a dream it was one of the usual bizarre ones he had when Doctor Strange contacted him. Strange had told him that he had just perceived that the destruction of Mephisto's realm was an illusion which had been dropped for some reason. When Peter inquired about the Beyonder or about Strange's apparent involvement in concealing his identity he was confused. When he awoke he determined that he was not going to tell Greer he didn't want her to worry but this warranted some investigation in the future. As for Strange the Sorcerer Supreme he was found the next morning with no apparent cause of death.

It had been a week since Peter's wedding to Sable he had spent four days afterwards with his bride but then he returned to New York to attend to the pregnant Gwen and MJ, see if he could find out what Norman was up to and of course find out how to avenge Daredevil after his death at the hands of Mr. Negative. This dawn he was on a rooftop with Neighborhood Watch. Spider-Man, Black Cat, Power Man, Iron Fist, Moon Knight and until recently Daredevil. Pity was searching for Cloak and Dagger to bring in since she knew them and there was a prophecy that Negative would die at the hands of Dagger until then this was the team and they had done some major damage to Negative and the Rose's operations though no one had an idea of his present location. After talking about their respective results another subject came up.

"What about leadership who's been leading in my absence?"

"Cage has been picking up the slack but he can't do as much as he used to since he has a family." Danny commented

"I don't trust Moon Knight fully no offense Spector or Grant whoever you are. Any suggestions."

"Felicia's been the most active among us her insider knowledge has really come in handy." Cage suggested

"You think you can run this boy's club?" Peter inquired

"I'll make sure they can keep up."

"Who's in favor?"

Three out of four agreed with the decision.

"Do I get a vote?"

The heroes reacted as another figure reached their rooftop.

"Elektra." Several uttered

"I'm here because you're scouring the city for Mr. Negative he murdered Matt and for that I want him to pay for that very painfully."

Peter glanced at her Sai's and thought of how hopelessly outclassed any non-powered hero would probably be in a fight against the crime lord but he thought she might be immune to his corrupting touch so he came to a decision.

"You can work with us so long as you don't kill the underlings."

"The Inner Demons? Not worth cleaning my Sai anyway. Don't look for me when you're about to go out I'll find you."

And like that she was gone. The group then disbanded for the day because of his very public relationship with Sable Peter and Felicia avoided any gestures of affection they'd exchanged plenty of those in private the past three days.

"Got to check in with the day job."

He changed into his civilian clothes and entered Horizon Labs where he had diligently worked trying to make up for lost time the past few days. The company hadn't fallen apart in his absence but it looked like several projects had been put on hold. Peter spent several hours getting some of his co-workers pet projects up and running then entered the blueprints for his latest gadget a container that would use Pym particles to compact and lighten loads of various sizes for the transportation industry into the nano-assemblers mainframe. He kept working for a few minutes after closing time while everyone was gone he put his costume back on and removed everything he had developed as "Spider-Man's tech guy" and discreetly moved it to another location. He had just finished the last delivery when his phone rang.

"Peter its Jess I don't know what you're doing right now but if you're not busy would you meet me at Fifth Avenue in an hour."

"It's a date."

They met and started shopping.

"You know for once I can actually afford to shop here. You do realize that this is where that incident with Mandrill happened."

"Don't remind me."

They stopped at a lot of places Jessica found it cute how much Peter flipped out at some of the rare compounds they had in the chemistry store. Though they had to make a quick exit when they spotted some unsavory characters a discreet Venom Blast later and they resumed. At 7:00pm she suggested they go to the cinema.

"So it's a mystery about a private detective in New York."

"And a light romantic comedy."

"I haven't seen the first one."

"Well then you haven't lived my web spinning friend. I've got the first one at my house and you're not getting out of it."

"Okay I know that face and I'm still reeling from the last time you kicked my butt."

"Smart boy."

They took a cab to her apartment and he checked the place out it was like the one he used to have after Harry blew their bachelor pad up. Though more secure and he was surprised by one of the items in the living room.

"Video game consoles?"

"Yeah I've got Portal, Need For Speed, Paper Mario a few others."

The last time Peter had been able to get to playing video games was in the age of the Game Boy Color.

"I haven't played these in ages I wouldn't expect you to have these."

"I am not most women. Want to play?"

"Against you."

"I was thinking co-op."

Over the course of the next three hours two played, watched the movie and ate dinner. Then as it got later they decided to head towards the bedroom. Jessica's pheromones induced much less amorous but no less potent feelings of love than they used to in the opposite sex but they came from the arachnid part of her anatomy. She was not a totemic being the natural order had only room for one true Spider-Totem at a time so she wasn't a real threat to her new mate nor did her portion of Spider genetics have much effect on her psychology. Still they awakened emerging from the shadows drawn out of the depths the Spider within Parker the animal aspect of his psyche that he had encountered only a few times. The woman led him into her bedroom and they undressed he noticed contrasting thoughts run through his mind as they prepared.

The Man was excited.

The Spider was afraid.

The Man wanted to make love to her.

The Spider wanted to ravage her.

The Man refused.

The Spider pursued.

Jess gasped as Peter collapsed on the bed in a near fetal position his conscious mind entering the dreamscape a mental battle to soon commence. Peter found himself in a cavern the Other was to his left and before him was The Spider.

"What's going on?" he asked

"You've hurt us greatly Peter Parker!" The Other (A living manifestation of his connection to The Web of Life) spoke "After so many years you achieved balance reached your fullest potential become the true Spider-Man as you accepted me and killed Morlun but scarcely had you achieved what fate sought to make you when you offended us and the universe's righteous powers committing an act of the greatest irresponsibility tainting us most foul you may as well rejected us as we sought Kaine gifting him but we could not leave for we are one joined to the web, life and destiny. I can see it in your eyes you don't understand what I'm talking about does and I can scarcely imagine the pain you'll feel when you do. You've been weak, lost looking to fill the void in all the wrong places I will be merciful and let you reclaim some of your lost powers but first you must grant us the Spider-Woman to the Spider and I as an offering."

"No!"

"She has awakened us we will have her with or without your help."

"I won't let you!"

"We'll have her with or without your consent."

Peter tried to catch The Other but he couldn't she was to fast The Spider charged and he battled.

Peter slowly lost ground.

"I'm not a Spider I am a Man I have nothing to fear from you I've proven stronger than you before I have come back from the edge."

The Other watched in disappointment.

"That you are" The Spider replied an utterly "an utterly broken man accursed, miserable, chained and even more stalked by death."

Peter remembered the past few weeks and some of the new light that had been shone on his past. He tried to summon his alien abilities.

"A Man might fall to your powers but I am more than just a man I am part Kree and I will stop you."

His hands glowed with power but he didn't transform any as that wasn't something he had physically performed yet. As he tried to blast the Spider the power left him and he had to fend him off again with his bare hands.

"The Kree part of you won't betray us" The Other said from behind him 'it was all part of the grand design you were the only one in the room that day that could have survived the Spider's gift at least you'd drain it of radiation before it could seek another."

"I'm still a mutant."

He fought with renewed vigor.

"What good is that going to do you?" The Other replied "Though it has saved your life sometimes your intellect has more often hampered you in battle restraining your spider instincts there is nothing here for your much vaunted strategies. As for adaptation what choice do you have but to give in?"

"I won't surrender I mustn't I can't let you take Jess."

Powered by a reserve of raw love he was able to make some headway but then hundreds of little spiders emerged indecisive at first but he failed to command them The Spider had no such problem. The Man was weak with confusion, guilt and myriad concerns the Spider was single-minded in its determination inch by inch it prevailed until The Man fell into the dark pit from which the arachnid came. The Spider awoke it's body had only laid dormant for twenty seconds and rose adopting an aggressive posture akin to one of Spider-Man's signature poses but even more contorted inhuman Jess reacted with shock and prepared herself for battle. The Spider reacted closed the door and windows organic web shooters at work within his wrist as he sealed them. Dozens of spiders that had been hiding in the structure emerged from nooks and crannies. The Spider moved quickly faster than could be seen dodging a half-hearted blast he held the woman's chin and stared into her eyes it may have been a second it might have been an eternity time had no meaning to The Spider whose gaze hypnotic was able to transmit instructions to the woman as she stood smiling entranced. He fired weblines at different spot on the walls forming a large web about two feet above her bed she rose in flight and joined him atop. The two began a primal dance atop the web the woman reacting perfectly the two moving and reacting in tune to the actual mating of some breed of spider the lines vibrated more and faster as they moved on to some serious superhuman mating. After two rounds The Man within felt himself gain more control he had no idea what was going on. The Spider now pinned the woman down to the surface with some webs securing her hands particularly for fear of her Venom Blast and exchanged a tender kiss. The Man fought valiantly and managed to secure some semblance of a draw. The Spider maintained its hold over Drew's mind as some of his teeth converted to fangs and he bit her into her shoulder injecting its venom. Jessica reacted in pain but after a second her face showed no response and after a few seconds of staring blankly her eyes closed. she had gone from an active if wholly compromised participant to an unconscious and bound… prey. The Man had been powerless to stop it but he managed enough sway to influence alter both the venom and the mental conditioning before he collapsed into unconsciousness. The Spider to was feeling fatigued.

"I am the Spider. And I know. In ways normal men cannot: I know. I see into things; beyond things. I see the strands of Fate that bind us: victims to victor. And today I have found and tamed a mate."

The Spider disassembled the net and placed her in a cocoon suspended from the ceiling.

"Let the metamorphosis begin."

The Spider used the last of its energy to form a silk dress laced with a second different batch of its venom and placed it in her closet then drained both physically and mentally he fell to the ground surrendering to darkness embrace back to the depths.

Peter awoke and saw the room crawling with hundreds of spiders. Jess was nowhere to be seen but there was a large cocoon hanging from the ceiling. He knew the webs had to have lasted more than an hour was the organic webbing that had fired from his wrist last night different from his synthetic polymers? He quickly tore through the cocoon and after several mighty attempts he ripped through it and Jessica spilled out falling headfirst naked and covered in a strange heated moisture not sweat but not goo either.

Peter held her in his arms her eyes slowly opened she was unresponsive but had a $%#^# silly look on her face. After a moment her eyes started to move and respond. He asked her to get up and she immediately did and responded to everything he said as a command as her consciousness slowly returned.

"How are you Jess? What happened last night?"

"After we slept together I had a wild life altering dream like the one you had on your birthday that one time with all the craziness with Doctor Strange that caliber. Right now I'm in a trance though my consciousness is starting to wake up though we will work independently simultaneously."

He could see it her posture and mannerisms were changing instead of alternating between rigidity or adoring subservience her movement efficient when performing it was becoming more natural like he was used to her words finding more expression with each sentence this was really weird and he knew he was on his own with this unless he wanted to let the rest of the community know about his current situation or that he might be a danger to them as well. Jessica began to think back to what happened.

Last Night

The Spider's entrancement combined with its venom had rewired some of Jessica's neural pathways creating a feedback loop when she maintained or acted in line with the trance state her unconscious mind stimulated certain chemicals and the pleasure centers of her brain rewarding her conscious mind. Newfound harmony between her conscious and unconscious would boost her mental faculties not to the same level or with any of the drawbacks of Carlie but her mind would be quite fast and sharp when she needed it to be harnessing 35% of her brain. Although the web of life reweaved itself connecting them more strongly. Jessica didn't remember much from before she had been cocooned but she got the gist and she fathomed the spider its ways and essence in a manner that could scarcely be put into words. Her heart had only been at 1 BPM for some stretches of her time in the cocoon she had felt very much dead but great activity had been underway her bitemarks had healed a layer of skin had been shed to be replaced by a stronger clearer one she was hot literally her body was cooling down from a 6,000 calorie burn. But she did remember the mindscape within the cocoon she had been dead transformed resurrected passed through many trials and experiences some of them were Peter's being buried alive, buried in rubble, fighting Morlun others were from her own experiences or completely fresh she saw familiar foes along the way of course like The High Evolutionary and Morgan Lee Fay. Every time the situation seemed hopeless and it was her love of Peter that gave her the strength to get her out of the situation reaffirming and in reinforcing her feelings for him. He was there most of the time as her guide or to give her his hand to pull her out things like that though she had to do at least 90% of the work. When finally she went through what seemed the last step of the gauntlet she found herself a teen in civilian clothes sometime in the past near the campus of Midtown High. She immediately recognized a timid bespectacled teenager and watched him. The boy approached a brunette.

"Sally I, eh, was wondering if you were busy tonight…?"

"Peter for the umpteenth time, you're just not my type…"

She went to Flash as he passed by and shoved Peter away.

"… Not when dreamboats like Flash Thomson are around!"

"I admire your good taste, doll! Get lost bookworm!"

The two were now with some friends.

Peter persisted.

"Look there's a great new science exhibit at science hall tonight! Would any of you like to go with me?"

"Science hall! Hah!"

"You stick to science son we'll take the chics!"

They started to drive away in a convertible.

"See you around bookworm!"

"Give our regards to the atom smashers, Peter!"

Jess found it pretty sad was this what it was like for him when he was in high school. She followed him as he attended the radiation demonstration.

"Some day I'll show them (sob) some day they'll be sorry!—sorry that they laughed at me!"

She watched him as he received that fateful bite such a blessing such a curse. She followed as he discovered his powers and fought Crusher Hogan. When she found his home in Forest Hills she beat him to his room entering the window. Peter arrived a minute later he saw her and dropped his book.

"Whoa who are you and what are you doing in my home?"

"My name is Jessica Drew and I'm her cause I'd like to go on a date with you I'd like to be your girlfriend. You're not the kind of guy that has to ask the lady out are you?"

"You like me that's impossible this is a prank."

"No…" she grabbed his arm. "It's not a prank if you must know I'm from the future we're married and I have powers not all unlike your own."

She demonstrated them.

"I… wow…"

"You could take me to diner. Tomorrow I'll stop by Midtown and pick you up they'll see."

"You wouldn't be embarrassed? You'd do that really?"

"I'm yours Peter anytime anyplace."

Jessica caught what she just said it felt very wrong but equally right she didn't have time to think about it however as she found herself participating in a montage of the past thirteen years of Peter's life but different for she was in a relationship with him and through all of his trials and tribulations all the different stages of his life whether it was the death of his uncle a high school dance or his first defeat at the hands of Doctor Octopus his graduation and entrance to college or some of Aunt May's heart attacks photography, grad school, Norman and Harry Osborn all of it. Until it ended abruptly and she found herself in a medieval castle. Seated at the perimeter of the room were all the different Spider-Woman throughout the multi-verse all she perceived her inferiors save one May Mayday Parker. Closer in robes were different figures a familiar child with a rare blood disorder which made her briefly worry the matter of children in regards to Peter's radioactive blood (Not sperm that the assertions of Spider-Man Reign were uncanonical unscientific and spurious. Blood type however is inherited from the father) and the condition her father cured her of the remaining figures such as a Hydra agent, a young detective as well as a heroine in a Skrull prison uniform among others all different iterations of herself she realized except for two variations she didn't recognize.

"Who are you?!" she asked them

"Perhaps you're Shadow perhaps a hallucination implantation brought on by spider-venom or perhaps I am your daughter whatever the case I am your future years of submission and bliss with our beloved Peter." The figure was simultaneously dark and radiant bleeding emotion much like her pheromones but she couldn't make out her form for she had yet to unfold."

"I am the Spider" the other one said pulling back her hood with four thin buglike arms to reveal a wide many eyed head with two large fangs. "I am your power I saved your life why do you betray me?"

"What does she mean?" Jess asked warily though on some level she knew the truth.

"The Spider is not a very strong force within your consciousness but the Spider within our beloved fears it as a threat even as it is drawn to it we will never feel fully his love if we cannot feel safe in one another's arms." One of the her previous forms told her

"What am I to do?"

"You must kill it not the power, the language, the artful simplicity of thought and motion but you must discard the dangers it has to its mate some of its instincts and… when you are with our beloved remember you're the Spider-Woman."

"I get it."

"I can't believe I'm actually fighting a part of myself this was here the whole time and I didn't notice."

Jessica battled the Spider within somehow knowing where to strike and where not to what to harm and what to leave intact and though the Spider fought swiftly, desperately and not entirely selfishly Jessica was winning bit by bit.

"I don't want to hurt you. Don't you see you present a danger to the Man-Spider as well she is using you molding you and they will succeed if you let them." The Spider pleaded

"Succeed in what?"

"Eliminating the one precious part of your humanity that will always be a threat."

"And that is?" she asked as she held the Spider up by the throat and prepared for the final blow

"Your free will."

Jessica punched deep into the Spider's chest and pulled her hand out covered in the mental equivalent of green bloody goo. Half exultant half horrified she stared at the she-beast as it slowly died the two stared at one another as she both realized and felt a part of herself dying.

"I warned you there can be no love true without the possibility of pain. Your Man has experienced so much in his life the Man-Spider fears us wants to tame us and may use his fears born in the broken strands of parental abandonment to manipulate him. You can still stop this now halt this metamorphosis refuse, awaken, flee but if you lack the will or wisdom reach for the man embrace him and don't ever let go."

And with that it died.

"Quick before it decays you need to integrate its corpse into yourself." Her Future ordered

Jessica complied as she clutched the corpse taking in its sacred, profane essence there was a flash and parts of her costume were covered in arachnid armor she could now access a part of herself until this night she hadn't realized existed. She knew what she was to do next one by one she integrated her previous forms each one making her feel denser, whole appearing more like her real self until only the Future was left trying hard to conceal it's mischievous unknowable intent. Drew flew right into its form and it laughed as both forms now as in time Spider-Woman saw stars, caves a wedding as she approached the dawn yet to come. As a result of this the input and output of energy within her ring skyrocketed to a level only two or three others matched.

Back To The Present.

"What about… the Spider?"

"I'm… I'm not afraid of him if that's what you're asking but I much prefer the man. We're two of a kind Peter. I know every woman is special to you but none know what it's like to have a little spider in them none have had an experience like last night. It wasn't the Spider that made me like this it was you and me and for that I am quite grateful."

Though linked in some bizarre way at least witnessing some of it mind and body Peter had no memory of when they were asleep and he wondered just how much the Spider had affected her it was a primal aspect of himself that didn't exist before the spider bite and was different from the previously unexpressed human attributes and components that found vent first as Spider-Man and then as Peter Parker. Generally he supressed unless he really needed it in battle, was in the midst of totemic enemies or was else under extreme stress and wanted to shut the world out. Could Drew be right could her current state be a result not of the Spider's actions but his own could he really trust her to be in something resembling her right mind. Then he remembered that she took the initiative to call him in the days after the incident, it was her who used her pheromones to sway first Carol and then him into the even more bizarre and complicated lifestyle he found himself in and it was those same pheromones that had triggered him last night so when she said that this was the result of both of them he had to agree. They both had a peculiar influence on one another and like it or not they were on a grand adventure together.

"I trust you and I won't take advantage of you."

She knew that things were going to be fine more than fine. Thanks to the power of the ring she promoted love and trust if she wasn't already supremely confident in his nobility and intentions her pheromones would still make him quite considerate he knew his worries were just a sign of his love and that they would fade within the hour.

"I know. I love you Peter and I know a lot of what you went through I don't want you to worry about the others and my feelings I'm here for the long haul."

He was nervous, hesitant in what to say and it reminded her of "Puny Parker".

"It's okay I'm yours I'm here for you I've always been."

Peter's momentary confusion was halted when she started making out with him.

For a few seconds they gave in to renewed passion and then he stopped and gave her a handful of instructions to test her after getting dressed they had breakfast.

Peter watched Jessica as she ate she seemed pretty happy and mostly herself.

"You're staring at me" She observed after finishing her last bit of pastry. "worried about if I'm in my right mind it doesn't bother me kind of endearing actually. A husband has to…"

"…Put his wife before himself." He finished

"Yes. And cherish her as his own flesh."

"I guess I'm going to have to set some ground rules."

"Go on."

"Oh my I don't know… okay… I'll have to work most of this out later but for now you will not be compelled to obey anyone other than myself more than you would under normal circumstances, you will revert back to normal whenever you aren't alone or with me in private."

"I'm bound only to you anyway but you're second command is good I know I don't seem exactly normal right now I wouldn't want to be the woman responsible for people finding out about your current lifestyle."

"If the Spider comes out again…"

"I'll see it coming hours before you start to notice it's satisfied at least for now and if it happens again I'll know how to deal with it."

"Last I know that right now you'll blindly do whatever I tell you if you don't like or have any misgivings about something please let me know first so I can abort if need be."

"Are you done?"

"One last thing can you snap out of it now."

She did the euphoria from her pleasure centers fading he could visibly see the results though she was still in a fairly good mood.

"You know what I'd like to do now?"

"What?"

"Dance I know about that night you had at MJ's club I'd like to see what you got."

"I had a lot of experience in college."

"I know."

I just remembered something.

She followed him as he returned to her bedroom the remaining spiders scurrying out and opened the closet. Inside was a beautiful silk dress undissolved and modular with layers that could form many different outfits.

"I love it."

He watched as she got out of her civilian clothes and put it on. Then they began dancing neither having any idea what the dress might do to Jessica Drew… Parker.

Ten minutes later Peter was wondering whether he should call Horizon and tell them he wouldn't make it today and make some plans when their Avengers ID cards went off.

"Spider-Man, Spider-Women the Avengers need you right now." Tony requested with more than the usual urgency

"We'll be there as soon as we can. On a scale of 1 to Thanos how bad is it?" Peter responded

"It's a 9 the Phoenix is coming to Earth and it's decimated a few places on the way."

As soon as they were in uniform Peter and Jess went to the mansion as fast as flying and web swinging allowed Peter arrived a couple minutes later and quickly took his seat at the briefing.

Over the next few hours The Avengers and X-Men responded separately with their own agendas the X-Men wanted the Phoenix to find its desired host Hope Summers who having a reputation as a mutant messiah it was believed could restore the mutant race after the vast majority had been depowered a year ago. The Avengers wanted to keep the Phoenix from Hope and neutralize it as it was in a less than ideal mood and had the power to burn the Earth to a cinder. The conflict went to the moon where a plan by some of the geniuses failed and the Phoenix was split among five different mutants Cyclops, Frost, Namor, Colossus and Magik. On Earth Spider-Man defeated the latter two by himself as the others managed to take Namor down. It seemed however that with each member neutralized the portion of the Phoenix within them would join the remaining host increasing their power. Finally Spider-Man managed to smuggle Hope away to Shangri-La the land of the Iron Fist. There he was told of an ancient prophecy that he was supposed to be the destined mentor of Hope. Hope was really irritated with him she was not going to dress like him which was fine with Peter because there were already like 8 spider ladies. But with sensitivity he told her his origin story and the mantra "With great power there must also come great responsibility." And lo and behold she became excited anxious to find out what other wisdom and tips he had even considering patterning a costume after his the one that she just expressed her dislike for. In the next round Peter managed to communicate a plan to Dazzler as they were "battling" she managed to shield herself and absorb the sound of several of the Avengers attacks not to mention a couple of explosions, gunfire and one of Cyclop's optic blast that missed Spider-Man when she felt really charged she fired a light that blinded pretty much everybody for a moment then used her new ability to one by one transport him, Hope and his heroine lovers to the Mole Man's kingdom deep underground at lightspeed.

"What are you doing here surface dwellers go back to where you came or face my fury!" The Mole Man screamed

"Mole Man we know you have this nice welcoming committee of monsters you can sick on us but we need a place to talk and the more time we spend fighting down here the more time a giant planet destroying bird has to find out where we are and tear your kingdom apart."

"…Fine!"

Spider-Man and his company sat down without harassment by the monsters.

"The Phoenix will find me eventually I'm not scared but if I can't control it Wolverine or one of you will have to kill me."

Peter thought about it for a moment.

"Talking to someone who has a little experience with things like this if it can't have you it will settle for a less desirable host one who is mutually pissed off. If worst comes to worst we'll do what you want but it won't I trust you. The end of the world is something we have to face every week I'm more worried about this hero fighting who's sick of it?"

The cavern was filled with affirmative responses.

"After this all is over we need to form a team one which is not susceptible to wars like this you can all think about it but for now can we put aside our differences and follow Hope's plan let her decide her fate."

"But if we were to separate ourselves and join you wouldn't that make our connection to you more obvious?" Jessica inquired

"Not if I make a public announcement and some male heroes join us."

"I'm not leaving the Professor." Kitty stated

"That is your decision and its fine there's plenty of good you can do with the X-Men once this situation is over."

"You would need spies in both teams. You'll have to find someone else for The Avengers because I'm going to be by your side." Widow added

"You make a good point Natasha who's with me?"

Carol, Jessica, She-Hulk, Tigra and Widow all raised their hands Dazzler, Kitty and Mystique had yet to decide.

"That's fine for now Allison can you get the other girls here?"

"You really want them in the middle of this?"

"Part of a backup plan I'm not happy to say it but if the odds of success are greater it will be worth the risk they will be put through."

Dazzler returned them to the battle which had moved to Utopia they joined individually most of the combatants too busy trying to survive and to distracted by Hope's appearance to ask questions while Gwen, MJ, Felicia, Carlie and Silver watched from a rooftop at the boundary of the battlefield. The Phoenix force had become concentrated in Cyclops and Emma Frost together they were overwhelming the Avengers then the two simply turned on one another and defeating Emma Scott took her portion of the Phoenix force and had its full power at his disposal he also killed Professor X in front of them.

"Avengers grab Hope and fall back!" Iron Man ordered

Spider-Man was swinging across the buildings that weren't destroyed dodging blast and noticed that the rest of the X-Men had stopped fighting because of what had happened.

"Cap's in charge. What do you have to say Steve" He replied

Cap watched the devastation as Half of Iron Man's suit was blasted off with Summers next attack and The Hulk and Giant Man fell as well. For once he didn't know what to do."

"I for one am not leaving if we retreat there will not be another battle."

Hope was observing the action from the Avengers side when the Scarlet Witch spotted her.

"I'm going to take you somewhere safe another planet perhaps."

"Luring it away from the Earth? A good idea but I've got a better one." She said as she manifested Wanda's own powers.

On the rooftop Gwen, MJ, Felicia and Carlie were horrified by the battle this was not something they wanted to see or be a part of they were hopelessly out of their element.

"Do you think Peter will make it?" Gwen asked attaching parts to her four barrelled gun to turn it into a mount sniper rifle.

Carlie started writing in her notepad at a furious pace after a moment and several pages she spoke. "Odds are surprisingly good 47% it all comes down to what Hope does."

"A reassuring name." Gwen stated as she finished mounting in on the tripod

"It all comes down to who makes the first mistake fortunately that's where I come in." Felicia said pacing around the rooftop

"I've seen enough to have faith in him but he's the center of the Web of Life if he dies we're all screwed I'm kind of hoping the Phoenix realizes how suicidal that is."

"The Phoenix Five already attacked him before. The dumb bird." Felicia replied

"Best not to get our hopes up."

"Hey does anybody know what his backup plan was?" Gwen inquired

"I have no clue." Mary Jane said staring at the figure in the red and blue costume through binoculars. She had a lot of experience reading him through his posture as Spider-Man. "Uh-oh I think he's about to do something very stupid."

Suddenly her cell phone rang.

Two minutes ago

Peter was trying to figure out there next move (all his plans were meant to buy time for Hope) when the X-Men joined them. Then Emma woke up and assessed the battlefield with her mental powers she nudged an idea into his head but he firmly resisted before giving in.

"Cap, Iceman you're with me I want you to keep him from advancing beyond this position Thor, Falcon, Storm, Warbird, Spider-Woman and Firestar get into the air and keep him busy She-Hulk, Beast, Wolverine, Shadowcat and Tigra take him low and be careful, Dazzler blind him if you can, Mystique… um do what you normally do Hawkeye, Widow, Sable I want you in sniping positions… do what you have to do."

Cap was proud and surprised not the least bit resentful for his initiative the rest of them had at least for the time being overcome their feelings about divided loyalties and such and were willing to give it a go. As they went about their work Iceman and Spider-Man created layered barriers across city blocks with ice and webs. Spider-Man's web shooters were designed to rotate the cartridges so that he'd have to exhaust 10 before they ran out even with his belt bearing 30 spares he knew he'd have to ration them. Swinging onto a rooftop he activated his Bluetooth and made a call.

"Hey Jackpot I need you and Cat down here" he quickly explained his plan

"Are you out of your mind!"

"It's only an option sweetheart."

"What about Gwen?"

"She should take the shot use fire everything."

"When?"

"She'll know… Thor and Beast have been knocked into a water fountain I don't think they'll be getting up for some time I have to go."

Rejoining the battle Spider-Man advanced towards the ground heroes camp and caught the Falcon as he fell from the air depositing him alongside Wolverine as they sat behind cover.

"Nice of you to join us kid you got us a way out of this."

"Yes and stop calling me kid!"

"Okay junior. That Phoenix power puts us in a bit of a predicament."

"Logan this is Scott we're talking about there's not much he can do besides his optic beam… and now fly and burn the world. We just need to disable his eyes."

"Dazzler's light blast would do the trick."

"Yes quite an eyeful if you pardon the pun."

"She's not going to get close enough to him unless he's very distracted."

"Way ahead of you."

Scott/Phoenix was advancing despite a two pronged attack by Storm and She-Hulk. Spider-Man fired a web at his shoe and pulled tripping him then quickly moved to a different cover position as his Spider-Sense warned him of another flash.

"Spider-Man" Cyclops yelled as he approached "you hid Hope from us you're a mutant one of us you knew the restoration we sought with the Phoenix but you didn't help us I'd respect you if you were blindly following Rogers or Stark but Avenger or X-Men you're not just following that poor misguided conscious of yours."

"At least I didn't kill the professor."

That really set him off Warbird were able to blast him in the shoulder as a bullet grazed his leg but that just caused the beam to move wildly leveling several buildings.

"Oh great cover for me Logan old buddy old pal."

"I've lived a long enough life anyway. Sorry Scott today just isn't you're day."

He checked on Spider-Woman and Shadowcat then led the charge. Spider-Man swung back and repaired the damage to his web barricades he was going to tell the heroes that were still airborn to form a wider perimeter so Cyclops couldn't just fly over them but they were already doing that. He spotted MJ and Felicia on the ground and landed right in front of them.

"Jackpot, Cat I'm glad you're here."

"This looks like the end." Mary Jane observed

"Just another day at the office." Peter replied his nervousness apparent "Felicia you ready to join the fray?"

"Why not it's something I signed up for." She said though clearly not pleased.

"Okay I'm just going to check on Hope for a second love you two be safe."

He kissed them both and started running. Mary Jane was going to start ranting to Felicia but by the time she had turned Black Cat was gone. Spider-Man crawled leapt and swung until he reached Captain America.

"Where's Hope?"

"She's holed herself up in the attic of a coffeeshop just a block away."

"Thanks Cap."

Spider-Man made it to the attic in record time Hope sat next to a box waiting for the inevitable.

"If you pull this off she's definitely going to want to be you're sidekick." The mutant replied

"We'll I might not be the most put together mentor but you're no mutant messiah Mystique."

"But I don't have to be hero." She replied a hunger he had not noticed before in her eyes as she rose in front of him her posture equally inviting without changing to her true form.

"True… now get back to it."

He crawled down the ceiling of the stairway muttering to himself he and Mystique had both been very open about the ickiness they both felt about anything other than a distant aunt/nephew type relationship what had changed? Then he realized she believed they were all about to die.

"Well I'm going to prove her wrong." He told himself as he opened the door and made his way back. Spider-Man had just arrived to the Phoenix's end of the barrier when he saw how it had Cyclops was ranting about the X-Men betraying him Shadowcat (who had helped greatly by using her density control to for a moment lodge much of his legs somewhere below the ground) was unharmed as well as Spider-Woman and the feline double team of Tigra and Black Cat though this was only thanks to the persistent ferocity of the semi-immortal Wolverine's attempts. Hawkeye was disabled annoyed by the minor bullet wound Cyclops had fired on her rooftop Hawkeye fell and Widow rescued him with her new web shooters but his arrows spilled out all over the ground. The mad Phoenix backed former superhero was finally disabled when Storm launched several lightning bolts in front of him this obscured Dazzler from his view just long enough for her to fire one of her light blast it would have been a lot easier for her to just use her newfound speed to end the fight in a second but that consumed a ludicrous amount of sound energy she had already used. Unable to see and not psychotic enough yet to use the Phoenix's power indiscriminately he stopped and Emma approached him from behind.

"Scott it's me I know where Hope is."

"Then tell me!" he demanded

"Give me the power of the Phoenix and I'll get her."

"It was… ungracious of me to seize you're share I will return it."

"I'm sorry Scott but I mean all of it."

"No!" although he felt the Phoenix Force considering going of its own accord.

"You're blinded you can't fight them anymore not effectively what chance do you now are you going to be stubborn and prove these Avengers right who think you're on some kind of half possessed psychotic power trip or are you going to ensure Hope restores our race?"

"Why you manipulative… fine you win."

Scott stayed on the ground and let the Phoenix rise out of him and enter Frost. Before it could decipher her intention or the other heroes could reach her she turned to her diamond form and tried to contain its power.

"Get away from here!" she warned to Spider-Man, Dazzler and She-Hulk the nearest heroes

Peter knew what was going to happen and he was sad that I had to come to this it was yet another in a long list of failures as a hero.

"Carol" he called "get the wounded into the Quinjet."

She got to work right away picking Beast who was swimming as best he could and Thor who was asleep up Hulk was on her next trip. It looked like Cap had already moved Stark. Back at the site Spider-Man watched as a red light spread across Frost diamond form from within two vertical cracks appeared and spread as her colleagues watched in horror.

"Goodbye Emma." Peter said his mask now off gracing her with his face in her final moment.

The mutant exploded into a million shards of diamond and the Phoenix flew with a fiery rage before returning to Scott who had recovered his sight if suffered a good punch or two from the other heroes after he had been weakened. Peter put his mask back on and entered his customary fighting stance. As he advanced Sable appeared and hurled a cryo-grenade his Phoenix fire powers burned through it. Storm, Iceman and Firestar encircled him in fire and ice.

"You think either fire or ice can contain the Phoenix!"

He burned through the ice and flew through the fire unscathed. He was getting close to the other barriers. Storm tried to form a tornado around him but he simple used the Phoenix's pyrokinetic abilities to turn it into a firenado the flying heroes had to flee as it nearly returned to its source. Shadowcat phased through the barriers to keep "Hope" away something her powers were great for while Captain America blocked the way.

Cyclops fired his Phoenix enhanced beam at Cap and was blocked by his shield of course not concerned at all he simply held it steadily as he hovered low. After a minute or two of continuous fire Spider-Man was somewhat taken aback as if his powers were as potent as they seemed he'd be knocked off his feet and probably break his neck every time he used them let alone now.

"Hey Scott who gave you an exception to Newton's third law?"

He didn't respond and a couple seconds later Cap's shield started to heat up so much he could barely hold on to the straps then the edges started to melt a bit and overloaded it exploded. Spider-Man tangled Cyclops in webs quick and moved Cap out of the action. On the rooftop he watched as he made his way through layer after layer of webs and ice dodging blast from Warbird. At this point Gwen and somewhere on the ground Sable fired with everything they had their foe was not amused and when she ran out of ammo he turned his attention to Gwen's building. Gwen grabbed her stuff and ran down the stairs. Before he could fire Spider-Man zip kicked him to the ground and raced into the attic to give him a hint then Kitty used her phasing abilities to get them both out the other end and it was a merry chase Peter, Kitty and Mystique. Finally they found themselves a rooftop out of his view and the Fantasticar showed up.

"Sorry" Reed Richards apologized "the Mole Man was acting up for some reason and invading China with his monsters."

"We needed you here!"

"Relax webhead." Johhny replied "Reed's got a new gizmo that will make short work of the Phoenix."

The Ben handed the long laser cannon looking thing and Sue told him to be careful with it as he was adjusting to its weight. The heroes worked together to set it up and then Reed got the shot ready and nothing came out or in for that matter. Then the machine made a noise and expelled noxious gas out the back.

"Oh well back to the drawing board." Reed said

"What do you think went wrong?" Sue asked

"I don't know honey the only thing I could think of is that the…"

Ben was examining the device and opened a panel.

"You forgot the batteries."

"Of all the times to be absent minded. Sorry Peter but we're going to have to go back and pick up some batteries."

"Oh yes go pick up some double AA's at the nearest shopping mall while the world burns don't forget to pick up some band-aids." Spider-Man replied

"There is no need to be sarcastic."

"We need you here there is not going to be time to fix you're gadget if it's even functional."

Suddenly there was an annoying alert sound on the Fantasticar. Johnny vaulted back into it and checked the screen.

"It's a code grey!"

"We have to go!" Sue said joining him

Reed and Ben joined them in the car.

"What's a code grey?" Kitty asked

"Doctor Doom." Johnny answered

"That's what's so important you have to ditch us?!" Spider-Man responded

"It's Doctor Doom."

The Fantasticar lifted into the air and flew away.

"World's Greatest Heroes more like World's Greatest Morons." Mystique observed

"Hey they inspired a generation of us heroes they might… okay they've got some issues but as explorers they've seen worlds and faced threats we could never imagine plus I put a kick me sign on Johnny's back I've been saving for ages."

Frustrated having lost sight of "Hope" Cyclops just leveled several city blocks then brought his attention to the other heroes wounding several he grabbed Sable.

"Spider-Man! Come out with Hope or I will kill your wife if that doesn't suit you your friends will be next."

Spider-Man enacted the next phase of his plan. Mary Jane approached in a replica of one of Jean's outfits.

"Jean?!" Scott responded dropping Sable.

Spider-Man came in before he could get to good of a look at her and sling kicked him from the side then approached MJ.

"Sorry Scott." MJ replied as Spider-Man moved the top of his mask and they kissed passionately.

"SPIDER-MAAAAN!" Cyclops yelled firing to angry to be the least bit confused

Spider-Man tossed Jackpot out of the way his Spider-Sense giving him just enough time to dodge elegantly he performed his usual routine of acrobatics until eventually he found an angle of attack and moved right in for a suicide run. Spider-Man was just ten feet away when he was hit it looked like his head flew off. All 13 of his brides cried out in response and then something strange happened everyone was too distracted to notice. One by one the woman were pulled as if by some strange force first Mystique merged with Dazzler than they with Shadowcat, Black Cat, Tigra Spider-Woman, She Hulk, Sable, Widow, Warbird, Carlie, Jackpot and Second Chance. Into a fifteen foot tall woman that looked like a Greek Goddess a transformation Peter specifically try to promote with his demise. The figure fought Cyclops with all of their powers but it being a challenge to make use of them all into a sophisticated fighting style she tried to bring her superior size to bear in a basic powered melee brawl but Cyclops brought the full power of the Phoenix to bear. The battle lasted for several minutes and in the end they cancelled on another out Scott was neutralized but not the Phoenix itself the woman/women fell and reverted to their original forms in a flash of light. Most of them were groaning on the ground a few of their number got up however including Mystique who reverted to her disguise before Scott could notice.

"How's it going?"

"Whaa!?" Raven reacted to the familiar voice.

"Yeah I'm alive that Spider-Man whose fought the battle that was a Life Model Decoy I was experimenting with at Horizon I'm alive thanks to it and I have been able to harvest all sorts of data."

She slapped him.

"That was so cruel do you know what it would mean to me to lose you?"

"As a charge or something else?"

She didn't respond.

"A backup plan. I needed to "martyr" myself so I could see how the rings and you girls would react my theory was correct. A bank of computers are printing out the data right now here's a photo."

He showed her a picture of the merged form fighting Cyclops. (If you want me to be more detailed later ask and I'll put a full description in a future chapter.)

"Ready for the next phase."

"Got any more bright ideas?"

"Actually this is my last one."

Suddenly the sky erupted in fire as an enormous flaming bird took shape and screeched. It flew straight for Spider-Man and "Hope" behind him. The bird stopped several feet in front of him trying to find a way past him but they moved and angled so that he was always in the way curious the Phoenix moved to attack him then stopped stopped made a noise that could only be compared to sniffing Peter had called upon all he had the mutant, spider and alien nature within him and was allowing it control of his expressions and body language it was dark and almost hypnotic to the creature.

"That's right I am the center of the web of life I know you have a telepath fetish and want someone who reminds you of Jean but I am the foundation of all the energy the power within you. You would only destroy yourself by killing me… I am not your enemy you… love me."

The Phoenix understood and was under his sway though it didn't grasp a word he said but rather his primal essence and intent.

"You don't want Jean or Hope you want my mate to be one with her in all your marvelous power."

The Phoenix screeched in what he assumed was recognition and then a smaller firebird shape broke off and began flying all over Utopia from place to place finally zooming back and forth between MJ and the pseudo-Hope unable to decide clearly its original intent still held some sway. This continued for two or three minutes and the other heroes got closer wondering what the hell was going on then Hope and The Scarlet Witch came into sight.

"What took you so long?" he asked Wanda

"I had to teach her."

"Her powers are kind of well chaotic." Hope stated

"Are you ready for this?" Spider-Man asked

"Trust me."

Hope faced the fiery bird and let the Phoenix take her working in unison with the Scarlet Witch she was able to disperse it the entities will broken as its energies scattered restoring powers to the mutants throughout the world who had lost them in the aftermath of House Of M. Peter and MJ both felt a chunk of it hit them in the chest like a physical blow each of their rings glowing on the edges with a faint fire before being absorbed into a gelatinous bubble in the middle. Peter suddenly felt a much more intense connection with the web of life he couldn't see it like Madame Web but he could feel vibrations along the strands like a real spider as new ones were formed or others severed many rewoven in life, death and all the connections and relationships along the way there seemed to be a lot of rapid activity around the center with shifts in other corners some benign others dangerous. Peter forced it to the back of his mind knowing if he wanted to he could now see twenty seconds into the future. Mary Jane felt sexually charged but the feeling faded more importantly the Phoenix Force gently unlocked long dormant genetic memories of a previous less civilized life and she had a strong sense that the child within her would survive the pregnancy.

"Looks like you've got the power of the Phoenix, Cosmo. I hope you put it to good use kid." Peter thought "Hope you did it." He said aloud

Hope and Wanda descended to the ground and then mentee and mentor shared a hug.

"That was…. That was quite a rush. I can't wait till you show me the Spider-Cave."

"I don't have a Spider-Cave."

"A base?"

"I had an apartment in New York that was blown up recently but Symkaria is excellent this time of year and it has a Queen who trains excellent mercenaries."

"Cool!"

The other heroes started to surround them the majority were thoroughly exhausted. After the usual crisscrossing of fatigue and adrenaline high ran its course in everyone's earnest congratulations, and wise remarks Captain America approached Spider-Man.

"You showed remarkable initiative Peter you'll be the best of us someday I know it. The formations, having a Spider decoy and a Hope decoy kissing that Jean impersonator she had a lot of courage."

"Yeah I've known Jackpot a long time she's a bit new to the biz but I think you gave her some combat training once."

"I just wanted to say that someday I think you'll be the best of us."

"Well that means a lot coming from you but its times like these that make me want to stick to the street work."

"I can understand that. Scott is secure in the Quinjet. He tried to provoke Wolverine to kill him had some idea of making himself a martyr. He was a good hero it's just what we need a second Magneto he'll be transported to the best therapist we can find."

"Might I suggest Ravencroft's Ashley Kafka I know her well. To be honest with our lifestyles I think we could all use a great deal of therapy now and then."

"Agreed."

Peter was uneasy but he felt safe to communicate it with Steve more so than some of the other Avengers anyway.

"This whole deal these wars of costumes it's unsustainable the villains outnumber us almost 20 to 1 why should we give them another advantage."

"I've… had a lot of time to think about that Peter and this is a real wake up call for us and the world I have an idea how to avoid this. Tony's set up a press conference…"

Peter leaned away a little bit holding his hands in front of his face though still masked.

"I don't wanta…"

"It's not going to be like…" Steve spoke sensitively. "yes you have good reasons to be hesitant but we're just letting the world know what happened avoid panic in the streets, doomsday hysteria, that sort of thing."

"I'll be there." Peter grunted

"Good because you're delivering a speech after me."

"What?"

"I thought you could use some good PR. By the way what was that thing that attacked Scott it was a huge woman like something out of Greek mythology one of Dazzler's holograms perhaps?" his animated curiosity apparent in his voice and expression

"I have no clue." Peter answered honestly although its existence he had supposed and appearance he had deliberately planned for.

The heroes all gathered into the Quinjet's and after offloading their prisoner at Ravencroft settled at Avengers Mansion for a party though Peter was in a bad mood and besides drinking and playing a game of chess with Beast a game he narrowly won. After the party ended he retired to the current hideout shared by Gwen, MJ, Felicia, Carlie and Elizabeth. After embracing each of them and muttering some endearing words of drunken nonsense he collapsed in bed and was soon joined by the former three. Though he was very still sleep eluded him and as he grew sober his mind started to form a plan.

**The Next Day 2:00pm**

Nearly all of the superheroes alive at the moment gathered at the press conference Captain America delivered the speech where it was explained to the world what had just happened. At the conclusion he announced as a reassurance to the public and a sign of peace between the X-Men and the rest of the heroic community some new half mutant team the Uncanny Avengers. Finally he reached the conclusion of his speech and introduced the next speaker.

"The Earth was saved yesterday in no small part due to the efforts of New York's resident hero Spider-Man who led us when it seemed all hope was lost. He was able to unite the entire heroic community that had been divided against a common threat. I am glad that the city of New York and its former mayor have started to look at him in a new light for he is the kind of hero I aspire to be."

Everyone's attention turned to the webslinger and he was somewhat taken aback Captain America was idolized by almost every superhero along with millions of Americans and non-Americans and he was saying that Spider-Man was his model. Spider-Man was shocked even though he'd heard it before how his perseverance despite the bad press was one of the things that motivated him in the months after he was thawed out as a man out of time. After a few seconds reached the podium relaxed but a bit angry.

"Heroes fighting heroes is nothing new heck I was going toe to toe with the Fantastic Four less than a month after joining the hero biz but it's been getting more and more frequent forming massed warfare that this world isn't prepared for and frankly should never experience. Yesterday we lost a colleague to one of these senseless conflicts never again. On my own I have personally have fought by the side of each and every one of you I know what it's like to go on your own and what it's like to work with others to take a stand for your convictions or to let others tell you what to do to be a hunter or a fugitive I've seen highs and lows and greatness in each one of you we said never again we had learned our lesson from the Civil War but look at what this has come to and now after wreaking such monumental destruction the Avengers and the X-Men are just going to shake each others hands and put aside their differences? Maybe it will work for now a lot of good could come from these two teams cooperating but that doesn't address the root problem as long as The Avengers aren't fully independent from Stark or SHIELD as long as the X-Men don't broaden their scope beyond mutant concerns this will all happen again and that is why though I still respect the organization and admire each of its members in protest to this fiasco and the recent treatment of Tigra I am quitting the Avengers. I was once taught by a very wise man that with great power there must also come great responsibility those are words that I have tried to live my life by but I have seen that I can do better the past few years experiences and my marriage to Silver Sablinvoa have led me to realize that my responsibilities extend beyond New York City and its citizens whom I love with the most burning intensity not even my new home Symkaria and its wonderful people but to the world and that is why I am forming my own team and extending an invitation to all the worlds heroes and all of its villains who may have had a change of heart or extraordinary people who have yet to be discovered to join me I have a duty to never allow a person to come to harm if there is something I can do about it even before I discovered my inhuman heritage it that includes all sentient beings whether they were man, machine, mutant, alien, inhuman, monster or immortal I have no pretensions of fixing the world's problems and I don't think we will but I believe there is a hero in all of us, that everyone deserves a second chance. Having lost a lot of people close to me I'd say there is no greater duty I could think of than to make sure that people's loved ones aren't killed by the actions of criminals, supervillains, or alien invaders. Symkaria has me my Queen Silver and the Wild Pack New York is already serviced by Neighborhood Watch whose members include myself, Black Cat, Power Man, Iron Fist, Jackpot, the Punisher and until his recent death Matt Murdock/Daredevil if you want to join this new international team meet at the Statue of Liberty at 9:00 tonight."

The heroes gathered were shocked some clapped some commented on what this meant a few joked or sighed.

Spider-Man handed the microphone to Tony. Stark immediately felt a thin coating of webbing on part of the microphone and knew his hand would be stuck. When he looked behind his shoulder Peter was almost out of sight swinging.

"Well I don't think anybody expected that from the new king but good luck to him I've done enough things to piss him off." The crowd laughed as he held his hands freely showing the webbing. "Are we done or does Wolverine want to say his piece."

The mutant growled.

"Okay then we'll let you know more about The Uncanny Avengers next week."

He signalled for the cameras to stop recording and the heroes left quicker than he expected.

**3:00pm**

Peter entered the safe house wary of possible pursuit but his spider-sense wasn't giving even the faintest of hums. He found Gwen, MJ and Elizabeth in the living room. It was unnerving seeing MJ and Janine (Elizbeth's real name) in the same room such mirrors of one another especially after he discovered that they had both been part of Richard Parker's cloning experiments years ago something neither woman was aware of. He embraced Gwen and Mary Jane and checked their bellies.

"A little early for that Tiger isn't it?"

"Where's Felicia and Carlie?"

"Carlie's at work she wanted to see if she's adjusted enough to get back to it." Gwen answered

Elizabeth was watching his every move more still trying to come to terms with him and his deceased clone being superheroes than observing some of their uncanny similarities.

"Felicia's digging all the information she can from former clients I think for once she's as interested in taking down the underworld as you are. You know you don't have to have to go out there tonight you know they'll understand no one put you in charge of the world's problems let alone this city's." Mary Jane said

"Yes but I've been blessed… or cursed with more power than I've ever had before and my power must come with an equal portion of responsibility."

"I understand your sense of responsibility has always been what most attracts me to you even if I don't always like where it leads you. But you're stretching yourself more thinly than ever before. Everyone needs help once in a while even Spider-Man."

"I know but I have friends, allies, the best lovers a man could ever ask for even Jolly Jonah has changed his tune. Besides you're all the help I ever needed together all those years we were invincible."

Mary Jane remembered that time she had felt anything but invincible. But remembering just how much she endured, the mounting extremes they had experienced and the reason why she hadn't had more problem throwing that all away made her able to discern as she rarely did just how courageous she was.

"Might I suggest something?" Janine brought up raising her hand

"What?"

"Clones."

"No I don't need another round of that…"

"What scared I won't be able to tell the difference?" MJ replied

"No you'd be able to tell before they uttered a word."

Gwen hadn't talked much but now she did.

"Peter I love you more than life itself but I really need you now more than ever your child is going to need a father. I've been debating it for days but if you're going to be all over the face of the earth inventing things, ruling a nation, leading two super-teams where do we fit into the picture I'm excited about being alive again, back in the city, hopefully finding a place in the police force but I can't do this without you. I think I'm going to move to London and find my relatives God only knows how they'll react and stay with them at least until you get things under control."

A single tear fell from his face.

"Gwen…I… I don't want to lose you again."

"Under control!" Mary Jane fumed "What you thought you were living in some fairy tale the knight would vanquish the Goblin and you'd live happily ever after? Things will never be under control and you're just going to have to accept that! Neither of us are going to run away ever!"

"Says the woman who skipped town after he proposed the first time."

"Ladies." Peter tried to interrupt

"You know when I didn't run? When mere days after returning from our honeymoon Kraven shot him with a drugged dart, buried him in the ground for two weeks and ran around the city in his costume beating criminals to death leaving me with no clue what was going on and that was a minor trial along the road. You left for London because your daddy died doing his job and Peter didn't propose to you before his twentieth birthday and you'd have to rely on yourself for once."

"So what if I was raised a little old fashioned so was he. I loved him and even I admitted what I did was wrong! You're just jealous that he picked me over all those years ago! He would have never given you a second glance if I hadn't died you took him on the rebound!"

"Ladies."

"I don't deny you loved the part of him he let you see. But I was a good friend to you both over the years sure I flirted with him from time to time to gauge his interest but I wasn't ready to be open with him or anybody at the time when he showed that he clearly preferred you I backed off. I supported both of you during that time all the times you were crying whenever things weren't going your way. I was the one who was there for you when you're father died and you were thinking of breaking up with Peter because he was defending Spider-Man I practically handed him to you on a silver platter. Yes I was there for him when you died I full knew what he was going through and I was there for him but we didn't become a couple until he had grieved for almost two years I realized that I loved him that night knew full well the dangers of what I was getting into thanks to you and choose to stay with him anyway even after he lashed out at me."

"What about what you said when he unmasked himself in front of us?"

"I was cruel and there's no avoiding that but I had had it. I had dealt with Peter's secret for four years already you had looks, money, a pretty good brain, the best dad you could ask for and Peter life had handed you a pretty good deck and yet when he tried to let you in your first instinct was to think the worst of Peter so yes I was mean but only because I had had it with your spoiled crybaby attitude."

That stung Gwen had tears right now.

"It's true… I don't have the same fortitude as you do. And I was jealous of you in thte past I might have been the beauty queen of Standard High but you had entire campuses drooling on your shoes and now you're a former supermodel. You were so… lively. All I could do was copy you and reinforce my scientific skills I actually resented Peter's fascination with science at first but he seemed to really want a girl with a head on her shoulders."

"Not like the airhead I pretended to be."

"You're right I can't act out when life doesn't match my expectations I'm sorry Peter."

"You do what you think is right the last thing I want is to cause you any pain." Peter said

Elizabeth watched as Peter and the two girls hugged.

"I'm still here for you Gwen we were best friends once I just can't stand you wasting this second chance you've been given because I know just what you have to throw away."

"You two have been so kind to me I don't think I can ever make it up to you. I'll try to do better."

"Don't be too hard on yourself I fill the family's self-loathing quotient plenty well by myself."

"I'm sorry to interrupt everyone but while we're talking about children there was another reason why I met you in Symkaria Peter. While I was in prison I discovered that I was pregnant the day I gave birth a group of men in black robes and white mask stole my baby boy his name was Reilly Tyne."

"The Scriers!" Peter concluded "they're a cult of mercenaries who work for Norman Osborn."

"I know someone with experience with the Scriers with Kaine on their trail you'll have your child back in a matter of weeks."

"Kaine you'd send that monster after him?!"

"Kaine was an imperfect clone of me who thought Ben was the original after Norman killed Ben he became very remorseful decided to become a hero he now wears Reilly's mantle as the Scarlet Spider atoning for his crimes. This is just the kind of thing he's been waiting for. I know he can be very scary he once kidnapped MJ but his heart is good or at least cherishes it. You have to trust me."

"Call him it's not like I can track him down myself. But if Kaine harms him…"

"Then Ms. Tyne you can do whatever you want to me."

Peter made the call Kaine was very excited to hear it but he warned Peter to stay out of his way during the mission he might leave a trail of bodies. Peter tried not to think of it and agreed. He would never condone murder if there was absolutely any alternative in his work but he knew he was far too busy to babysit his "brother."

"It's done call this number if you want updates." Peter said and he left the apartment for what could be only a few days… or the start of a self-imposed exile.

Peter then stopped by Teresa's New York apartment. She opened the door her eyes scanning her brother for sings injury.

"I saw the news you're in pretty good shape for someone who fought through that."

"That's only because I was never hit sis."

He entered and Teresa gave him a brief tour of her apartment it wasn't particularly lived in since as a CIA agent she travelled a lot but there were photographs of her adopted family hung on the wall and there was a small bookshelf. He resolved that he would really catch up with her the next opportunity. They had met when Teresa had rescued him from the Kingpin's men they had traveled to Monaco and later Egypt preventing Fisk from acquiring a stash of Nazi Gold the two's bond had grown closer and she had discovered his secret identity. In Egypt Fisk revealed to him that they had been manipulated every step of the way Teresa was not in fact his sister but they had been subtly manipulated by Mentallo she wasn't a familiar looking brunette but a blond with blue eyes. Like with Pity in the past Peter resolved that he would still treat her as his sibling. Mentallo freaked out and ended up wiping the memories of most of the people present Kingpin forgot Spider-Man's identity and it seemed she had lost her recollection of the whole adventure he told her an edited version of the story and left her to the Agency not catching a quiet remark that indicated she remembered. She didn't contact him for a month but she finally called him after having a conversation with his parents handler he apparently had a sample of his DNA which the agency wasn't aware of and he had deduced his identity from. The handler assured Peter of his confidentiality then decided to settle things by taking a sample of the agent as well. The DNA matched her face was a different blend of their parents features, she'd dyed her hair blond since high school and though not the hazel eyes of him or their father they were the same as their mother. (While Pity isn't really related to him the epilogue to Family Business indicates that whether or not Peter and Teresa are related he does in fact have a genuine long lost somewhere.) The two were surprised and relieved though quite busy the two resolved to stay in each other's lives and contacted each other on occasion. When the tour was over they took seats in the living room.

"How's our other sibling?"

"She's out with her friends. The girl's got a very particular set of company Cloak, Dagger and Shriek she's also attended several of Dazzler's concerts though they've never met."

"Light and Dark?"

"Something like that. So you're putting your own superteam together you do realize that you've broadcasted you're location tonight to everyone who happened to watch."

"Yes but that includes my allies I've got some aces up my sleeve."

"Sable, Neighborhood Watch and now this how will you ever have time for work at Horizon or to just take a break?"

"I have no idea but the challenges I met in the field fueled many of my invention ideas. A vacation would be very welcome though I can hardly remember the last time I had one. Teresa I came because I didn't know if Pity…"

"Don't call her that it really sets her off."

"If Chi would be here to see the newscast and I wanted the option to be on the table."

"For her to be part of your merry band of heroes. We'll I don't think she'd turn you down."

"We would need some kind of representation with the government."

"Worried they'll be scared of a rogue group of heroes?"

"Yes if it's led by one of the ones who made a fool of their registration effort, one who all records of his identity disappeared and who is now married to a foreign Queen disassociating him from American interest I'm sure there are some people in the government who have an axe to grind especially if someone like Norman Osborn could have been placed in charge of national security for a while."

"You do have a point and I'll see what I can do. Our samples have already been destroyed they won't be able to uncover any connection between us besides your appearance at Monaco."

"It wasn't until I was bitten by a radioactive spider… exposed to the antigens of its venom that my powers kicked in. You might have some untapped abilities as well."

"I'm not going out in some silly costume. I'm here for you and I want us to be a part of each other's lives but my work at the Agency that's my life."

"But you still want Natasha to come train you sometime and perhaps spill decades of juicy intelligence?"

"Of course."

He checked the clock.

"I've got to go love you sis."

"You'll have to introduce me to Aunt May next time."

"Absolutely."

He made a slow exit and headed for the FF building. It wasn't long before he found his old friend/rival The Human Torch.

"Johnny how are you doing."

"Well the Thing spotted that sign you put and acted on it. Real mature."

"I had to get back at you."

"That was years ago."

"Well… how was Doctor Doom by the way?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Was he doing something completely innocuous or did he invoke his diplomatic immunity when you handed him over to the authorities."

"The latter."

Johnny I came because I need you to get me to your old friends The Inhumans."

"The Inhumans what you think we're on speaking terms with them."

"Maybe or maybe not but I'm sure you still keep tabs on Chrystal and Reed's got some way in."

"True hey maybe we'll get lucky and Black Bolt will grace you with that voice of his."

"You wish." (Black Bolt the king of the Inhumans never spoke for his voice was so powerful it could split mountains.)

Ten minutes later Peter entered a portal and was spit out within the Inhumans city. It was night there so he tried to be as stealthy as possible before long he bumped into Medusa her "living hair" (which he remembered was even more of a pain than Octavius's tentacles) suspended ready to strike.

"Spider-Man why are you intruding on our sanctuary?"

"I came alone I know we fought two or three times in the past but I'm here with the best of intentions. I recently found out that I was one of you and I wanted to get to know my kind."

"You an Inhuman impossible."

"I guess you'll just have to show me to the others.'

Peter fought the instinctive urge to fire a web at it as her hair moved and lifted him into the air. She raised an alarm and her family joined her in the throne room.

"I found Spider-Man lurking within our sanctuary the weakling offered little resistance."

Spider-Man now on his knees spoke.

"I usually go to great lengths to avoid hitting women that goes double for family."

"The blasphemer claims he is one of us an Inhuman."

"Artificial I suppose." Spider-Man said

"That's impossible several commented at more or less the same time.

I always thought my powers were granted by a radioactive spider-bite one mentor of mine suggested that the spider deliberately transferred its powers to me that I had been chosen as an animal totem the center of the web of life but a very old mutant who knew my family recently told me that my great grandfather was a mutant and it seems an animal totem on the other side my grandmother was a Pink Kree. The abilities passed on in the family unexpressed until I was fifteen years old."

"Impossible!" Ronan said then added "what class of mutant?"

"A Proto-X."

"That's impossible the Proto-X is no longer part of the rest of the mutant population but it was one of the genes already present in the primeval men we blessed with our DNA."

"Black Bolt wants us to submit him to test." Medusa said

He was quickly moved to another room where a blood sample was taken his genetics were tested and they confirmed what he said.

"Your story checks out you appear to be an Inhuman and an Animal Totem as well. Welcome brother." Triton said

"Glad to have you in the family." Chrystal added

"Not so fast!" Ronan replied "The webslinger may be an Inhuman but by pure chance he is of a different line ignorant of your culture."

"That's true husband but you are a full Kree what place have you in here either?"

"We guarded your planet and graced it millennia ago with your existence and besides I love you."

Chrystal didn't respond although oddly enough she did prefer him to her first marriage to Quicksilver.

"So am I in the family or out of it?"

Black Bolt gestured and Medusa interpreted him.

"You are one of us your timing is odd but we understand how recently you've discovered your heritage."

"Well then I'll let you in on my secret."

He removed his mask before them.

"You're not Spider-Man we saw his face on Chrystal's device."

"I was wearing prosthetics and makeup my name is not Ben Reilly that was the name of a deceased clone don't ask. My real name is Peter Parker and I kept my identity secret from the world so my relatives in New York wouldn't be targeted by my enemies. I'm letting you know."

It all became clear for them as memories of Doctor Strange's mind filter collapsed not that they had that many memories that were altered to begin with. After a few minutes Medusa was the first to speak.

"We know of your announcement hours ago war must be quite barbarous out there if it made an outsider see sense. You intend to gather superhumans for your cause perhaps you came to convince us to join your ranks as if we would concern ourselves with helping humanity"

"No anyone's free to join if they want but I'm not going to ask. How did you hear of it be the way I thought you kept yourself cut off from the rest of the world."

"Chrystal has one of your electronic devices with access to the internet. She emails constantly."

Ronan showed his displeasure and Peter was left with a pretty good idea where most of those messages were going to.

"My request was that my allies and I could use your city as a temporary base."

"That could draw attention and wrath you are already king of Symkaria why would you want to station yourself here?"

"Because I'm one of you and because I can represent us. There was a change I was planning to make in the Symkarian constitution in about a month or so I was going to extent full rights and protection to all intelligent beings that go through the process and passed a background check but I'll work on it until my appointment at the Statue of Liberty. My home is your home."

"You're people are human and your reign has just started is unsecure can you really trust such a bold move to sit well."

"Symkarians are a very good people you'll find most aren't prejudiced."

"Black Bolt has come to a decision. You may reside here and your allies can stand on our soil unharassed if the legislature passed you will have your base as well."

Spider-Man bowed though he really didn't need to.

"Thank you your majesty. May I borrow Lockjaw to get to my kingdom the portal I used was a one way trip."

**…**

**Symkaria 5:16 PM**

Silver was aching for Peter but their mental link helped without it she didn't believe she could handle the absences she had experienced and expected in the future. The two had discovered that it was best at the time when their sleep cycles overlapped when that happened they entered a shared dreamscape that felt absolutely real on they could control and had all to themselves though it was a pain to find the route to transition from their own dreams to it sometimes. It left Sable a woman who had trained herself for years to sleep as few hours as her dignity and respect for her health would allow welcoming the end of the day. Her new pupil Hope had proved a welcome distraction Peter wanted her and the Wild Pack to give her a few weeks combat training before he began training her as his sidekick or apprentice as he put it all parties preferring the formality. Hope was currently pined to the ground the Queen on top of her Hope's ribs were bruised by the blunt weapons of two fallen mercenaries her clothes slightly damaged by three Chai that had been previously tossed at her. Hope remembered the conversation she'd had with Spider-Man after he had snuck her to a Symakrian stealth jet (one of only a handful of prototypes the nation had been able to afford) at the beginning of the Avenger's party.

'So this is how it ends with you dumping me the second the world doesn't depend on me? Cable approved of this he let me go and I for one know that wasn't easy for him. Am I such an inconvenience to you?"

"I know you want me to teach you how to fight crime and more of what it means to be a hero but if we don't wait until things cool down a bit someone is bound to take you from me. You have the potential to be one of the most powerful beings in the universe but you only manifest the powers of those around you. When there's no one around you with powers?"

"Then I'm just a normal girl."

"And if supervillains, criminals or mutant hunters go after you like that…"

"Then I'm in trouble."

"There are plenty of non powered superheroes out their Silver will teach you how to fight like the best of them when it's over I'll pick you up for your next phase of training I've got the lesson planned out."

"Looking forward to it."

She entered the craft and a couple hours later found herself at Silver's home her new instructor hadn't let her sleep yet she had been training the whole time.

Now Silver watched the fierce determination in Hope's eyes not giving up even though the exercise was over she was going to find a way to extricate herself given time she liked that. The woman got off of her and tossed her a bottle of water.

"You dispatched my men faster than the last round but next time I expect you to not get hit. Reaction time is unusually good but I expect you to improve if I wanted to I could have cut you quite badly with my Chai. You're going to need to adapt to situations faster it's the only reason many superheroes are still alive. You weren't expecting me to enter mid-session and you didn't know what to do."

"Do I get to use weapons next time?"

"If you can take it before they are disabled yes."

"You're a quick learner Ms. Summers my husband didn't make a bad choice selecting you as his student. You may get some rest."

"Finally."

Hope left and got herself prepared for bed. Sable entered her own bedchamber only to be startled by the appearance of Spider-Man and a huge brown Inhuman dog.

"I didn't expect you back so soon." She reacted pleasantly

"Well I'm here to do my job as king. There's a change to the constitution I want to submit to congress."

"And what would that be."

"Extending full citizenship rights to non-human citizens we'll have to make some big changes the customs offices will have to adapt and diversify."

"That sounds like an admirable reform but can't it wait till the morning Parliament won't be happy to be roused this late?"

"I need to show that I'm involved with Symkarian affairs besides isn't this why people ask for strong leadership it speeds up the bureaucracy."

"I'll have Morty make a few calls we'll have to make a rough draft of the revised amendment it won't take that long just let me get dressed into something more presentable."

"How's Hope by the way?"

"Frustrating but very gifted I think I'm going to have to start raising the bar on the Wild Pack entrance exam she's putting them to shame almost as much as the Sandman used to when he was in my employ."

Two hours later Peter and Sable were formally dressed the former with his prosthetic/makeup disguise in the Parliament building guarded by mercenaries and surrounded by the bodies drowsy members there was also a Symkarian television crew airing live footage.

"I'm sorry to disturb your evenings but I had to go about this with some urgency and the matter is of great seriousness. My wife and I are proposing a revision to the Symkarian constitution you'll see the details on the papers given to you. The new constitution would grant full legal rights to any intelligent being that manages to acquire Symkarian citizenship. I'm not trying to open the floodgates and let this nation be overrun by my more unusual friends and acquaintances nor do I believe such a change will turn Symkaria into some kind of utopia society but I really believe in our people and that this is one of few nations that could tolerate such a state. Symkaria could become a brand new nation of immigrants one that would put America to shame. With the global influx of mutants yesterday the world will be grateful and it might be just what we need to put Symkaria on the map. If it's passed preparations will have to be made it will be a few weeks before we let the first non-humans through customs months before we're really prepared it's an endeavor I think worthy but I can merely propose it the decision is not up to me. I would understand if it seems rather bold for such a new king a man you hardly know."

One old overweight man rose.

"On the contrary Ben I think it's overdue. I wish Ernst had thought of it twenty years ago."

"If this were to pass we would need support." A middle aged woman observed

"Latveria has kindly offered to assist us if need be." Sable said.

Peter didn't like the idea of Doom getting involved it certainly wouldn't be good for his reputation either but he knew how close he was to Sable it certainly would make good PR for the supervillain.

"I'll assume personal responsibility for what happens. It's not something I take lightly and I cannot describe how my conscious will be affected if even one person is harmed."

"What about the church?" another man inquired

The different representatives had a discussion that all indicated what Peter already knew. The Symkarian Orthodox Church would have no problem with his measures but they did not like how he had declined to be crowned in a religious ceremony denying the divine right of kings as unscriptural he had assumed no source of his authority besides people's desire and willingness to follow in doing so he had separated the church from temporal power and that wasn't taken very well even if he had attended some services.

The legislator's opinions were evenly split but many of his opponents thinking their new king had perhaps handed them a useful noose for the monarchy voting at the end voting was 80% in favor of the revision and only 3% of those present delivered negative or defamatory speeches. Regardless of the legislation the anti-monarchs were pleased they had already sowed doubt about the Queen's judgement they had been waiting to see how much and how often Reilly wielded his power if he was an uninvolved ruler they would condemn him for being callous to the people's interest if he was active he'd be painted as a tyrant who sought his own interest they never expected for him to operate the way he had so far especially today it was the best of both worlds. After the session and some brief televised interviews Peter and Sable returned home and they found Lockjaw.

"This will be good I think Symkaria will be a much less quiet place for the next few months."

"And hopefully better."

They found some relief kissing and caressing one another for a moment she stopped him when he started to cup one of her breast.

"I can tell that legislation was something you had in mind for a while but the urgency I sensed an ulterior motive."

"I'm an Inhuman I think my kind should have a place where they can be part of the world without fear. They agreed to let my new team use their city as a base if I pulled this off. Besides who gets to brag that their nation accepts robots as part of their society?"

"You've got a point. Now go I need some sleep before I figure out how to handle this and I don't trust myself not to detain you if we resume."

Peter kissed her gently on the forehead as he ran his hand through his hair curiously he stopped as he saw a few brown strands. She noticed.

"Since that fiasco on our wedding day was resolved the premature aging I experienced after my mother died before me has been slowly reversing. There are other affects as well my doctor says that some of my organs have never been in better shape."

"Well that's good news."

Neither really knew what to say before he departed so no words were spoken before Lockjaw took him to the city to prepare for his next appointment.

**…**

8:57pm

Peter was standing in costume on the Statue of Liberty waiting when his Avenger ID card started flashing which was odd because it had already been deactivated. Looking at the image he saw The Vision's face.

"What's going on Vision?"

"That was a… stimulating speech you gave I will remain with the Avengers but Spider-Woman spoke with me and Ms. Drew wishes to serve as a… double agent within the Avengers I wanted to let you know I've established a subroutine within my systems that will let her contact you in the future in a few minutes I will erase knowledge relevant to her present loyalty."

Peter hadn't formed any plans with Jess to do this she had taken her own initiative he realized she was doing this to reassure him and it was quite the sacrifice if he kept any kind of score she'd be getting a healthy amount of points in his book.

"Thanks for doing this."

"It is my pleasure."

"She's really putting herself on the line for you."

"What!" he turned around to see She-Hulk

"A little early aren't you?"

"Well that was the plan."

Peter and Jen had planned for her to be the first to show up her new power would make it pretty easy to tell if people were trustworthy.

"Well with you gone and her new brand of pheromones working it won't be long before the Avengers entrust her with all their secrets I'm sure it wasn't an easy decision for her but we both want to know what Pym and Stark had up their sleeves that was so important Tony was willing to tolerate how Greer was treated."

"Have you really thought this through where are we going to be based, what about money, supplies, cooperation with international law enforcement?"

"I had a private conversation with Johnny Storm a couple of hours ago and he helped me to set things in place. Whoa!"

Peter and Jennifer took a step back as the circumference of the Liberty Bell was surrounded by a shroud of darkness and a 5'2 woman with short black hair and curved scars on her cheeks leapt to their position from above.

"Who is this?" the Jade Giantess asked

"Jen this is my sister Carla or as she's been calling herself lately Chi."

"I brought someone with me."

Kitty appeared as well in civilian clothes her head obscured from view by Carla's darkness.

"Hello Peter happy to see me?"

He recognized her voice.

"Yes! ...Why the secrecy?"

"Mystique found me and suggested she take Kitty's place on the X-Men that way she could work as a double agent for them and no one would suspect that she was with you. After what happened to Xavier she was willing to go along with our plans. I'm keeping her face hidden until we find somewhere private and she can form a new identity." Chi stated.

"It just wasn't the same there and I'm too being an X-Man to go solo."

Before Peter could respond Dazzler showed up moving at the speed of light.

"Am I late?"

"Just a minute." Spider-Man replied his precognitive abilities warning him of her arrival hence he wasn't surprised like the others.

"You didn't cancel your tour for this?"

"I cut a lot of cities but it's still a go."

"May I introduce you to my sister Carla she's a mutant with light and dark based powers."

"I'm a big fan of your work I can't believe I'm going to be able to fight by your side. Hey I didn't know you could move like that. What's your favorite?"

"Don't overwhelm her."

"Oh I don't mind" Allison said

After a few moments of discussion Warbird flew in.

"Good to have some air suport. Carol how were the Avenger?"

"Oh there was a huge argument at the mansion Stark and Pym were mad at some of us leaving Cap was more thoughtful finally they decided to just offset us with more mutants and perhaps reformed supervillains."

"We'll we've seen some fine Avengers come from the other side Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye, Black Widow."

"Did someone just say our names?"

Peter looked down and saw Clint and Natasha ascend on the formers hoverbike.

"You owe me for this webs but Natasha shared your web formula with me I'll take it as downpayment I'm always looking for new trick arrows."

"Who will be your second in the field?" Natasha asked

"I know you've both lead teams before the Champions and West Coast Avengers but I was thinking of giving Carol a shot."

"Carol are you up for it?"

"I wouldn't shy away from the responsibility."

"You wouldn't be offended would you?"

"Not at all." The archer and spy replied though Widow seemed a tiny bit hurt.

"Say "Mr. Reilly" you'll have to tell me how a New York street hero like yourself managed to marry a queen because that totally came out of left field."

He hesitated for a second he didn't like talking about Sable around Natasha Romanova… Parker especially between the fight they had and the Freaky Friday they had experienced on the wedding day.

"We worked together several times in the past I'd like to say we developed a nice relationship over the course of years but she really gave me no choice an army of mercenaries can be a little inconvenient even for someone with the proportionate strength…"

"Of a crawling insect." Clint said "nothing you haven't told me a dozen times before."

"What's up with the dark haired dame over there?"

"She's my sister calls herself Chi if you hurt her you'll wish I just gave you a mouth full of webbing."

"Okay okay I was just curious."

"Can we get to HQ soon its past William's bed time?"

Tigra was carrying her son with her.

"Thank you for standing up for me Spider-Man I don't think I could have continued working with the Avengers."

"Well it's touching that you'd do the same for me as well."

"The ranks are filing out nicely." Clint observed "but it looks like we're the only men here."

"Vision was here earlier he's sympathetic to our cause."

"Must've been happy you're granting machines equal citizenship. I don't want my phone to be whining about its constitutional rights next…"

He was interrupted by the sound of rotor blades. Peter spotted a growing swarm of news-copters he put his hand on Chi's shoulder and shook his head when she was about to use one of her powers. Then several mini-guns appeared and he realized they were not real newscopters the heroes frantically dodged as it fired.

"You know if I didn't know better I'd say they were trying to take more than just pictures must be that newfangled film they were experimenting with flying lead and they didn't even tell me they were going to have a shoot. Hey guys knock it off I don't think this is good for Lady Liberty's complexion. Tigra keep Wiliam safe. Lockjaw it's time for us to go."

"That was really foolish of them to attempt this." Widow remarked as she searched for a concealed assault rifle "and I don't think they can hear you over the rotor blades."

"I think whoever sent them grossly underestimated how many friends I have."

Suddenly as Hawkeye and Warbird we're in position to cover the others with a counteroffensive one by one the newscopters were frozen or surrounded by flames.

"Wait for us!"

Peter turned from the site of Lockjaw teleporting the other heroes to the Inhumans and saw Iceman and Firestar coming one covered in flames as she flew the other performing his trademark ice skating shtick.

"What took you so long?"

"The institute was attacked by Sauron and Stegron the Dinosaur Man no idea why but I put them on ice." Bobby answered

"What convinced you two to come here this evening?"

"Angelica wanted to pitch in as a friend and we started dating a week ago so we made a group decision. Not that I wasn't interested I was a founding member of the Avengers and part of the Champions let's say I have a thing for new teams and a broader range of heroic work."

"Well I'm glad to see you both here Bobby Firestar was a big help during the Maximum Carnage incident."

"That was something I try rather hard to forget." Angelica commented

"Me to… As a new superteam we're gonna need a name." Peter said

"How about Iceman And His Adoring Fans?" Bobby half joked

"Well Spider-Man brought us together so what about The Spider Friends." Angelica suggested

"A compromise Spider-Man And His Amazing Friends?" Peter offered.

"That'll do for now." Bobby said

"Where are we going to be headquartered?" Angelica asked

"New York, California and Symkaria are obvious I don't want any of those places to be targets I had a talk with the Inhumans and they said we could use their city as a temporary headquarters with Lockjaw I can move quickly to wherever I need to be. He should be here any minute.

As if on cue the giant teleporting Inhuman dog appeared and whisked them to a medium sized skyscraper within the Inhumans lair. Already there were the rest of his international team along with Black Bolt, his family and Ronan The Accuser who held the universal weapon in one hand while the other rested on Chrystal's hip.

"Greetings Spider-Man or should I call you Peter Parker Black Bolt has heard your speech and was greatly impressed he is proud to let you join our ranks your friends will have free reign of our sanctuary." Medusa spoke for her necessarily silent husband

"You're power set is less than laughable I wouldn't mind pitting our Kree heritage against one another in battle." Which was as close to a compliment as someone like him could expect from Ronan

"Well I shoot arrows at people but I could still take you down." Hawkeye said though even he knew he couldn't be serious

"How exactly did you get all of this set up?" Kitty asked

"That's a story for another day let's get you settled in your quarters."

Over the next few hours Lockjaw helped the heroes teleport their things into the different rooms and personalize them. As Peter worked on his own room putting all of his experimental suits and gadgets in their proper place and setting it up for some experiments for Horizon he communicated with Sable through their link their connection wasn't such that they could have mental conversations with words nuances and everything but it had infinite range and they could communicate emotions, impressions and sometimes images there was always a steady background at work but they liked to engage one another every four hours or so. He got the impression that Sable was tired and bored at the moment craving his company Peter took a mental snapshot of his room and of Lockjaw. While she was technically part of Spider-Man And His Amazing Friends she was severely limited in the time she could contribute. They both thought about their first time in bed and then she relayed concern about this Polemarchos fellow and his men he gave her a picture of how he imagined their spider-sense and she understood he'd be careful. As things settled down for the night he visited several of his teammates personally.

First he spent a half hour with Hawkeye Clint wanted to try out Peter's web shooters his accuracy though much better than Peter's when he first started out was nowhere near his par and he blamed the weight. But he was a quick study. As he was figuring out how to work the cartridges they started talking serious.

"I was wondering why you joined not that I don't appreciate your skills and humor or how you help balance the gender ratio but having led the West Coast Avengers I thought you'd be satisfied."

"Well I don't know it was a real spur of the moment decision I don't really know myself but things are really changing and I think you can help us adapt… and I needed to get myself away from Jessica."

"She rejected you?"

"Yes and I don't have a clue why she was nice enough but there was something off being married and divorced twice to the same woman I was wanting to try something different but I guess I'll have to wait a bit."

Peter felt a little guilty but he didn't let it show Jess had made her choice he had handled it as a true friend and that was all there was to say.

"Hey I'm sure there are plenty of Hawkeye groupies out there especially now that you've changed your ridiculous costume."

"I never wore a paper bag over my head."

"Point taken. But Clint the Vision told me that she's chosen to work as a double agent in the Avengers."

He pressed the button to lock the door and reached for a quiver of stun arrows.

"What are you doing?"

"Between your speed and that weird sense of yours I reckon you'd make the perfect test of my skills."

"This isn't about Jess is it?"

"You bet it is. I can connect the dots You, Sable, Carol probably Black Cat how you stood up for Greer I have no idea how you pulled it off and I'm not going to judge you I'm here for you but I'm not going to let it slide just yet."

Peter decided to let him get out his anger without offering any clever remarks it was a small price for an ally. When he was out of arrows he was able to get out and headed for Carol's room.

Carol's room was to put it mildly a war room it had everything you'd expect for the central command of a modern army combined with superhuman exercise equipment and an adamantium framed bed. Right now she was in midair setting some items in a bookshelf.

"How's my second in command?"

"Fine thanks for asking."

She shoved them in and descended to the floor.

"It looks like you're living up to the Warbird name." Peter commented

"We'll Avengers Mansion this isn't we don't have artificial intelligences or Captain America to guide our strategy so I decided I'd pick up the slack."

"Did I ever tell you how good that mask looked on you?"

"Not today."

She paused and Peter could tell something was weighing her down.

"Peter I'm worried."

"About what?"

"That it will happen to me again I won't be able to reflect on memories of us with… emotion and you'll be stuck with one of the most awkward and boring marriages possible."

Awkward yes." He kissed her "Boring not on your life." A second kiss. "You know with your new ability that that's never going to happen to you again and if it does you won't be able to resist my charm for that long."

"Or lack of it." She replied smiling "I'm working on a new book now by the way."

"Another autobiography?" Peter asked

"No a fiction published with a co-author… Mary Jane under a shared pen name… it's about being married to a superhero."

"Why'd you have to…"

"We thought it would make the world appreciate us heroes more and the nonpowered people who get involved with our kind."

Carol was thoughtful for a second and Peter somehow knew it didn't bode great.

"Hey I know I could crush you like a twig but how about an arm wrestle."

"Is that a challenge?"

"You better believe it."

She took her mask and gloves off and the two sat down and put their hands together Peter lost but not nearly as bad as usual it was partly natural from the start his hand was falling down half a second slower than usual but then both of their hands started glowing energy unconsciously being funneled into Peter's musculature."

"Hey that's cheating? It looks like you really must be part Kree."

Carol tried to siphon her energy back and it was a battle of wills that distracted them from the actual wrestling and prevented the game from being an instant and humiliating defeat. Both of them were actually sweating as it ended and they had a few ounces of liquor afterwards.

"We might make something out of you yet soldier."

"That goes for you to officer."

"Peter I have something to ask you."

"Shoot."

"I feel like I was a bit intoxicated when Jessica and us happened not that it bothers me but why did you agree to this harem thing?"

"Besides Jessica's pheromones, you asking and it making this whole mess a little bit simpler the answer was simple power."

Carol raised an eyebrow.

"No not like that. There's a direct connection between my physical strength and the love in my life. Normally I can lift ten tons, when I'm really pissed off twenty but in the past when I strongly felt love for either MJ or my Aunt my strength level rivaled your own my life's been saved so many times by that boost. On rare occasions when my love life isn't going to well my strength is cut or I just temporarily lose my powers. Since MJ and I… broke up in the past I've barely been able to lift a ton most of the time I also lost some totemic powers that relied on a form of balance the FF confirmed the effect was psychological and Carlie did nothing for it. I guess I'm just saying that this thing we have going on I think it'll make us all better heroes."

Carol saw the earnestness and conviction in him and she had to agree love was a much healthier motivator than anger. She knew that she was one of Peter's favorites and didn't want their big day to get swept up in the tide and delayed.

'I'm looking forward our wedding but I have no idea when I'm going to find the time to plan it."

"You don't have to worry about it my Aunt has been planning for this sort of thing since I was fifteen granted she expected it with a different person but I'm sure she could get everything set up in three days if I we let her know."

"She was that fixated on it?" Carol asked curious

"She's had thirty heart attacks and five operations in the past thirteen years she wants me to be taken care of after I'm gone. I think she's entitled to her plots even if they are annoying sometimes."

"And she doesn't know?"

"She did for a time and was the most remarkable ally but her memories of my identity went like everyone else's and I haven't told her honestly I don't know why but now… I don't think she'd approve of the new arrangement."

"Few would. To tell you the truth I was a little hurt that you married Sable first."

"We had some well I'm not going to soften it… extremely fast chemistry I didn't think you could fall in love with a person like that in one day but I made the choice to become King of Symkaria because that's what she needed. To the world she's the bride of Spider-Man but Carol to the world you're going to be the wife of Peter Parker you're going to be the one that gets to know the friends and family of my less extravagant side."

Peter reveled in the perfection of her face as they held hands and he wondered how such soft things could hold such tremendous power.

"Carol would you like to meet my Aunt in two days?"

"Yes barring an annoying end of the world scenario."

"There are way too many of those."

"Agreed."

"Well then I guess it's a date looking forward to working with you Warbird."

"Same here Spider-Kree."

"What was that?"

"Just a joke."

He walked out and Carol went back to work wondering what the future may hold.

Peter next entered Allison's room one she was sharing with Carla May Mendelsohn AKA Chi. Allison had just finished giving Carla some singing lessons. since the Gentleman's death the formerly Carla was been quite conversational when she wasn't brooding.

"How are you two doing?"

"Fine" Allison replied as Carla's petite body tackled him in a hug.

"Nice to see you to."

She got off of him and Peter regained his footing.

"Thank you for choosing Dazzler as my roommate we've had a great time."

"It's good to hear that I thought you could use another friend after Teresa told me you were spending your evenings with Shriek."

"She's not so bad… okay quite psychotic but she just wants family I can relate. I'm sorry I tried to kill you a few times in the past."

"You were conditioned for years to obey the Fiers commands there wasn't much you could do."

"True but there are many things I have done in the past horrible things I need to atone for."

"You're not the only one in the family with a guilty conscious."

He then proceeded to explain his origin story.

"That's really rough I wish I had known our Uncle Ben that I'd been there with you." (Peter hadn't told her yet Wolverine's findings that they weren't related.) "Peter you're a really good person I know a lot of the things you've done what you've had to put up with it means a lot that you were willing to accept me, reach out for me even when we were… opposed not many people would."

"That's the thing I refuse to hate all my enemies even Norman Osborn. What have you been doing since then?"

"For the first six months I was full of light I didn't really know what to do but over time I learned to fit into society the insects as Gustav called them. I read about you in the newspapers not the Bugle of course and separated myself from my past state step by step. I started going through the individuation process and sought out people with similar powers or lives in time I learned to accept and use my dark powers again. Thank you for accepting me into your team I'm looking forward to being a hero."

"Well it's not for everyone Carla but I'm sure you'll make your mark and I'm happy to have you at my side. Can I speak to Allison alone now?"

"Sure I'll be searching for something to eat in this place it's been two days since my last meal."

"Money problems?"

"Yeah."

"I've seen those."

Carla stepped outside and Peter turned his attention to Allison.

"I was hoping you two would hit it off but I can find her another room if she's bothering you."

"No she's a nice woman I'm glad I never went through the things she did. She told me one of my songs kept her from suicide in the week that followed her emancipation."

"A good song is more than just pleasant to the ears."

"I tend to agree."

He checked out her room more thoroughly the records on the wall, notepads, tablet and wallpaper it was personalized but not exactly what he expected then his gaze turned back to her she'd aged very well since their first encounter five years ago.

"I bought all your albums since we met it wasn't easy sometimes freelance photography doesn't pay terribly well with my schedule I never had time to go to the movies or read a book that wasn't part of my studies but I'd listen to your work when I was alone in my apartment the closest thing to a break I'd get. Why did you come I thought you wanted to distance yourself from superheroics?"

"I didn't want to let my biggest fan down… no I realized that being a mutant isn't something I should work against in my profession and that became even more clear today. I also wanted to be there for you like you were for me when you freed me from Lightmaster."

"That was years ago."

"I tried to write a song for you since came up with maybe five different versions since then but I never finished any of them."

"Don't tell me you had a crush."

"A little one."

"Well I'm flattered but there is no need I've heard enough ballads in the few weeks and I'd much rather just get to know you when things settle down. Is it okay if I kiss you?"

"You may."

The two made out for ten-fifteen seconds it was pretty light then they broke off.

"I guess we're each other's muse." Allison responded

"We'll I don't think I could ask for a better one. I need to see how the others are doing but I'll see you tomorrow morning."

Peter had barely turned when Carla entered in the room with a plate of unidentifiable food they greeted her and made his exit. A moment later Peter entered Greer's room out of all of them hers was one of the most set up but of course it had to be. She was stretching on the floor the exercise equipment looking like it had been used for years though this probably had more to do with her strength level which rivaled his. He noticed that she was still in Tigra form.

"Hey Beautiful are you still um feline for the benefit of the baby or are you just more comfortable that way?"

"Oh Will's equally comfortable with both my forms it's just my human self I associate more with the police force… and memories of my dead husband this has been my new life and while I still work at NYPD sometimes as Greer Tigra is who I am who I must be."

"I can respect that I've lost people close to me too it sucks. I came here to tell you that I like you… a lot but I just don't feel comfortable dating a mother?"

"You shouldn't feel like you're intruding on Pym's territory because William's father was a Skrull impersonator."

"It's not that I love children but I don't feel comfortable being a parent Greer do you know what happened to my children?"

"No."

"Because of the choices I made Gwen and MJ's children were erased from existence independent of one another you'd think I'd have learned after giving up Ritchie even if it was to fix the world but…" he broke out crying "Now they are pregnant with them again fate has given us this great second chance but I'm terrified my memory isn't perfect but it's eating me alive that's why we're not based in New York I want to spend every moment with them but I can't face them or the babies when they come if I stay away maybe they'll be safe."

"Peter he's a baby Cat Person he doesn't exactly have any chance at a normal life there is nowhere safer he could be than here."

"I guess so we could always call Black Bolt if there was trouble."

The two watched as her son tried to chew through the bars of his crib.

"Yeah. I think William is about ready for a little parenting care to chip in?"

"Okay is he ready to play sports?"

Tigra's tail shook and she groaned.

"He is an infant."

"Okay Triton put some board games in the closet they were made here but I think one of them is a version of Risk."

"Peter he's an infant!"

"Okay then what do you suggest I do?"

"Talk to him about your life about these responsibilities of yours, teach him lessons, tell him stories maybe read him a book something like that."

"I'm not telling him my story not yet too depressing."

"It can't be all bad not when I'm in it." Greer replied

"Got a Bible in here?"

"This is the Inhumans place what do you think."

Peter thought for a moment then gave a Eureka gesture.

"I think I have something give me a minute."

He rushed to his room and removed a book from the closet. Returning he removed William from his crib and took a seat next to Greer who smiled in approval as she read the cover. He opened the book and flipped to the first page.

"William I'm going to read you a story my Aunt and Uncle used to read to me when I was little it was about another Peter and his adventures in Neverland."

After reading two chapters the cat-boy fell asleep and he gently placed him in his crib then made his way to the door. Greer followed him sand spun him around she placed one claw on his chest as she gave his jaw a lick before delivering a kiss on the cheek.

"Well this Peter certainly grew up!"

"Thank you I'm still a work in progress."

"Aren't we all? I appreciate everything you've done for us and I'll fight by your side to the death but are you willing to face this fear together?"

"About that I'm here for you and I'll provide whatever help I can but there is another reason why I'm uncomfortable."

Greer thought for a moment it didn't take long.

"You're worried I'm looking for a father for my son and not a husband?"

"Yes… I'd never expect you to love me as much as you do him and I wouldn't mind you'd still make an excellent part of the team even if we weren't together but I can't be in a relationship with you can't pretend to be your husband if I'm just a tool."

"Peter I was born a human but my feline nature plays a role in my taste and the decisions I make its part of the reason I am so tolerant of you with all these other woman it's like a pride of lions even if I'm part Tiger it's still relevant. Do you know what a male lion does when it gets a new pride?"

"It kills the children of its predecessor."

"If I didn't trust you if I didn't believe in what we could have if part of me I don't know which didn't already love you and want to jump you would I let you near me son?" she said with intensity, conviction and passion

"So this was all some kind of test it wasn't about your son it was about us?" he asked reassured

"Can't it be both?"

"Well yes."

"Glad we can agree on that now kiss me you dumb bug."

"Spiders are not bu…"

He was interrupted by her full lips the two kissed for a minute Greer's tail whipping around finally Peter broke off trying to file away the sensation as he spoke.

"My Aunt once told me that there is no greater responsibility than raising a child and I've wanted to be a father for years yes I'm in well raise him together and hopefully I'll be able to face the others."

"You better polygamy isn't a model for minimal children. You're a very sweet guy Peter I'm glad we've had this chance."

He found a little trouble getting his hand off of her his adhesive properties weren't interacting well with her fur.

"I'll have to get used to that." He said

"We both will Spider. In time."

He nodded and after extricating himself departed for Kitty's room or as she was testing out Katherine Parker.

Peter admired her in her new costume it was a plain black with grey accents more dress than combat suit but a bit tight on her skin and a mask that went from the top of her head to just above her mouth her hair spilled out the bottom of course and there were no clear eye holes or lenses so he wondered how she was able to see.

"It really suits you."

Kitty blushed not that he'd be able to see it that well and turned around.

"Well I thought it would be best suit our plans for me to have a secret identity."

"That way Mystique can fill in for you and serve as a double agent in the X-Men."

"After all the X-Men have gone through do you really think she's gonna fool them?" she asked moving closer as Peter tried to adjust to meet where he assumed her gaze was."

"Her powers have improved as have yours."

He felt himself drawn to her he it was really hard to define what they had but he looked forward to working with her closely.

"I still don't trust her." She stated

"You're not alone but I think she's trying to make up for her and Rogue and I know full well how powerful guilt can be as a motivator. So what are you going to call yourself?"

"I don't know I was thinking of The Shroud but that went with a previous costume design. Maybe you could use a new name Spider-X maybe?"

"Nah Spider-Man's got too much name recognition I've already got four names and outfits to use for the next Identity Crisis."

"Awfully prepared isn't that?

"You have to be when you're dealing with Norman Osborn."

"True. When we found out you were a mutant I was really excited but this idea of yours what you're doing right now it's inspired."

Peter smiled he was happy to hear she had such confidence in him.

"To tell you the truth I didn't quite know what I was going to say on that speech that's why I left so quickly I didn't want to hear anyone talking about Spider-Man's little breakdown."

Kitty put her arms around him for a moment then froze and stared up at him.

"Peter I know you care for me but I just need to hear it am I just another woman to you?"

"What do you mean you know that I don't think of anyone like…"

"I didn't mean it like that what I'm trying to say is that if this thing hadn't happened to us could there still have been an us?"

"Well it would have been unlikely with our circumstances and I would still have thought of our age difference but given a chance I'd give it a go."

The two broke off and sat on her bed and she took her mask off her blush no longer hidden he found himself quite entranced by her brown eyes.

"I guess we should lay our concerns to rest now and get it over with."

"Okay then Kitty you deserve a lot better than this I've taken you from your team and I wouldn't want to take advantage of a schoolgirl crush especially when there are the other women."

"No I'm willing to put up with it I never was the most orthodox in my dating life but this brings up my own matter I don't want us to have a relationship if we're just a convenience to one another."

"What do you mean?"

"We'll I was a little lovesick I heard rumors that Bobby and Angelica were going to become a thing and I was a bit jealous me and Peter… Colossus have been over forever when this happened but I think I'm starting to realize that I've felt this way for a year sure I've spent some nights wondering but I wasn't um… as interested as Felicia used to be."

"I expected as much I knew I wanted to get to know you much better when you took the initiative to get everyone's contact information put together that morning but I had so many things to deal with and between Gwen coming back to life and my relationship with Carol I couldn't make you a priority I'm sorry."

She was pleased to hear this but there was another more important matter to deal with.

"I'm a bit worried that my powers are part of your attraction to me."

"What?"

"In most situations I can't really get hurt if I don't want to that was my one reservation when this all started you have a bit of a reputation among all of the heroes as a neurotic obsessed with saving everyone and that you needed a good vacation. Most of us appreciate you more than they'd be willing to admit. If we were all targeted in a surprise attack or fought a battle we weren't prepared for my odds of survival are greater than anyone else. I wouldn't blame you I know what happened to Gwen of course Osborn is despicable."

"I admit your abilities are reassuring but if I hadn't conquered the fear of starting relationships because of my lifestyle well… I wouldn't have dated nearly as many non-powered women exclusively with the exception of Felicia until just before the event. If I was 20-23 years old yes I would be very attracted to your powers but I've learned since then. Wait I think you've been talking with someone else about this."

Kitty was a bit embarrassed but confessed.

"So I asked your wives the ones who've known you longer Gwen, MJ and Felicia they've taught us all a lot about you. I know what happened to Ben Parker and I believe you hate death so much because you fear being alone maybe because of how your parents left you."

Peter thought about her words it seemed plausible enough.

"Who said that?"

"MJ."

"Well then you also know why we have nothing to fear." He said with relief

Kitty smiled and laughed.

"You still owe me that ride."

"I'll take you swinging the first chance I get there's nothing like the first time."

There was an awkward pause as the two checked each other out.

"Next time." She finally said

Peter agreed it was too soon.

Kitty told him about her parents and Jewish heritage then they they kissed and talked about the next book in a British science fiction series. After going over the plot twist in chapter eight Peter noticed how late it was getting.

"I have to see how the others are settling in."

"Until our next mission Captain Parker." She said saluting him

He couldn't restrain a smirk as he walked out. After walking through the hallway he entered She-Hulk's room a large bed had been set up but she hadn't brought many personal effects from the equipment on the floor and the half finished walls it was clear she had been painting a few minutes ago.

"I'm not gonna be able to be here full time I've still got a life in the city."

"I get it New York's finest lawyer giving justice to us all."

"Sadly yes."

"Yeah they don't get much better than Matt I still can't believe he's gone. Mr. Negative will pay."

Jennifer thought for a moment then transformed from She-Hulk to her newly improved human form Peter didn't seem to react any differently though she detected a tiny smile after a few seconds.

"Nice legs." He commented

"Yeah now they look like something from an anime thank you very much." Though she was glad he noticed. "I don't think you came here to spend the night so where do I fit into your plans?"

"We'll we're both busy people probably more so now than most times it will be a little while before we get a chance but there's this rooftop in New York I've only taken one person to it gives you this perfect view of the city I thought we could spend a few hours and just talk…"

She liked the idea of him sharing something that special to him with her in the future even if it wasn't all that impressive to a former Avenger and FF member.

"That sounds like a good idea… What's wrong?" she added concerned as he hadn't responded.

"Just you remind me of a few people I know."

"Yes every girl likes to be compared to their boyfriends exes." She responded with obvious sarcasm

"I'm sorry it's just you remind me of Betty Brant my first girlfriend our lives were incompatible and I kind of shooed her away one of the hardest things I ever did since then she's been kind of a mess but she rose from a mere secretary to one of the Bugle's top reporters even works in progress like ourselves can be successful."

That last part was apt so she'd let it slide. Peter sat down and started to hold her hand she didn't resist the gesture.

"Deborah Whitman was timid just like you well maybe a little more than you I reached out for her really cared for her but my responsibilities as Spider-Man kept getting in the way and I kind of took advantage of her she… ended up in the loony bin I'm sure you have greater mental fortitude but I remember what you said about getting what you give in a relationship and I won't let either Peter Parker or Spider-Man neglect you."

An odd one but she believed him and it was comforting since most of her relationships with two very notable exceptions were meaningless flings. He gave her a soft kiss and she pulled him in for a few more before letting him finish his speech.

"Finally there's Mary Jane she wore a mask for years I saw her as some wild hippie party animal but I couldn't be more wrong you see all too often I have thought of the mask as a tool our civilian identities the ones we use to form normal attachments are our real selves even recently I've fallen into that trap we crave love for the "real" us when it's so much easier to get it as "the mask" even recently I've fallen into that thinking but that's not true. When I started out I was just a timid teenager and I evolved into Spider-Man who represented many of the traits that I wasn't really able to express as Puny Parker when I started college however with a whole new crowd of friends those same traits started to rub off on me I didn't know what true peace someone like us could have until Mary Jane and I became honest with one another we each saw our true selves she saw me as not as Peter Parker or Spider-Man but both and neither something in between the person beneath. Jennifer Walters and She-Hulk are the same person they're both you so if you ask me which one I preferred I'd say it doesn't matter sure I'd like you to get more comfortable as Jennifer and even things out a bit but they're both different faces of the same person one I deeply care about."

"You really know how to woo a woman." She observed

"Well there are a lot of girls from high school that would disagree with you on that."

Having noticed severe temperature changes in the past few minutes he got up and she held one hand on to him.

"Stay!"

Staring into those eyes that face it was hard to say no.

"I can't I need to check up on Bobby and Angelica either one could ruin the air conditioning here."

"I love you!" she blurted out now as She-Hulk.

"I know." He said quoting Han Solo and left.

Peter's decision to check on Bobby and Angelica was a good one the new couple had picked rooms that were right next to each other and the area had alternated between hot and cold as a result he took it this wasn't a good start for them. Arriving at the portion of the hallway he found Angelica marching out of her room.

"I have had it!"

"Angelica we've been alternating between hot and cold I'm sure Bobby's not the only one that's been using his powers."

"Yes I have to keep myself from freezing but if you think I'm choosing to engage in some petty contest…! My powers aren't good for me using them already gave me cancer in the past chemo was a nightmare that's why I'm going to need to talk to him."

"Well we certainly don't want this place to turn into an icicle lead the way."

The two entered Bobby's room to find it covered in ice the floor was littered with figures, statues and bust a few melted but most smashed. Peter and her gasped at the sight.

"Oh sorry." Bobby reacted I was just trying to make something for you but I'm not as good an artist as I remembered I can't capture your beauty."

"Well…" she started still taking it all in "hours after we started going out this is quite a display I'm wondering whether I should take it as creepy or romantic… I'll go with romantic."

"Sweet… hey Spider-Man I won't use my powers again here if you don't want to."

"That's okay we'll just insulate it. I'll leave you two lovebirds alone."

Bobby drew Angelica into an embrace but then started to burn a little.

"A little too soon Mr. Drake."

Peter now made way to Natasha's room it was the last one besides his own. She was laying on top of her mattress working on a small tablet.

'Clint knows." She observed not looking up

"I know I had to pull an arrow out of my ass."

She finished what she was doing and looked up at him.

"I've dropped everything in my life and sided with you very publically. Now who do you want me to be?"

"A fine lover, a reliable ally and an emancipated woman. I'm glad we'll be seeing a lot more of each other now that we live under the same roof part time and don't have to worry as much about prying eyes. Figured out any normal paths you like?"

"I'm still having a little trouble but I think teaching comes naturally enough it was one of my covers and it was the identity I had as Nancy."

"You get along with kids."

"Fine just not toddlers I cannot stand them."

"Since you want a kid now is the time to get over that. If you have a child he or she will grow up and you'll have to deal with that stage. Maybe you should spend a couple days at a preschool or something."

"Just shoot me."

"It's just a suggestion. But maybe we'll worry about that stuff later. Now that the legislation is passed and you don't have a lot of things going on right now besides working with the team I was hoping you'd be willing to run the new immigration offices when they open in a few weeks it could be a little baby step… on the path we are taking."

"You can have normal people do that."

"True but I want the door to be opened to some reformed supervillains and I need someone special to not let anyone in that will cause trouble."

"You're crazy. I'd rather punch them in the face why would I take this job?"

"Ideally I'd have Jen take care of it but her career as a lawyer is going to make it hard enough for her to work on the team as it is. Besides there is no one I trust more than you to detect the liars and scoundrels that could slip through the cracks."

She thought it over for a moment.

"Fine but I expect to be rewarded."

"What is it you desire my Queen?"

"You know I can't stand your jokes and you already have a Queen."

"Not a Tsarina like you."

"My mother was the Grand Duchess Maria I could claim my Tsarist heritage rally a minority of nostalgic fools to my side."

"Not with that attitude you won't."

She fired her Widow's Sting at his stomach and he gasped.

"I just said you have to see them as more than tools like Sable does."

She gave him a look.

"Or like you are starting to as I do I love you Natasha and there are a lot of unknowns right now but I know right now here is where I want to be."

"Even after I stung you? I must really have you under my spell." she said with a smile

"I knew it I knew you liked my humor my witty repertoire of…"

"Oh shut up." Natasha said as she gave him a kiss it was different from the ones he was used to with her and the next morning he would have to admit she gave the best ones so far. They continued for a few seconds and then Peter's phone rang and he reluctantly picked it up.

"Who is this?"

"It's me Deadpool I'm hurt that you didn't invite me to join Deadpool And His Amazing Friends I actually shed a tear may have to do something drastic about it."

"Deadpool I invited anyone to meet me at the Statue of Liberty."

"Yes but I was unconscious in an elevator at the time."

"This is my team it's not all about you."

"I think you're even crazier than me!"

"And how did you get my number?"

"Information… he he he. I'm going to hang up now the author of this FanFic just offered me a job you wouldn't know the people on the hit list but they know you. Hmm who should I unalive first Probably Joe Quesada or Dan Slott that'd give me the most guest appearances. See you later."

"Deadpool!"

He heard an explosion and the call ended.

"Sorry Deadpool was just being Deadpool."

"He's even more annoying than you."

"Where were we?"

Natasha put her hand in his pants and gave his shaft a good squeeze before moving her thumb up the underside of his shaft and flicking the tip. She watched his reaction as she sat on the bed then stopped and spoke.

"I'll put my not inconsiderable skills to their full use when you've earned them. Tonight you're doing all the work."

"A challenge?"

"Yes to see how amazing you really are."

He found it hard not to look away from that face those eyes but it got a little easier when she started unzipping her uniform. It was a very appealing offer Peter knew Widow had had all the experience you could expect from a spy born in the 1920's who still looked like she was in her thirties and five of her previous lovers had been superheroes. Widow had had relationships with Hawkeye, Daredevil, Iron Man, Captain America (this is speculation informed by the Next Avengers Heroes Of Tomorrow Film) and Winter Soldier but none of them had been truly superhuman Matt's radar sense was something most blind people were capable of developing and Bucky well had a mechanical arm Peter was something different a new frontier she was very much anticipating.

After they had both removed their clothes Peter joined her on the bed and settling on top. He eyed her figure her the curves of her back, her C-cup breast and well-proportioned limbs as old as she might be she certainly had one of the better sculpted figures of those in his harem thought there was certainly some competition. She eyed the battle scars he had acquired over the years and his muscled frame he wasn't as bulked up as Captain America or Thor his was different in a way that reminded her slightly of a dancer. She felt his body using tactile sensory techniques that she had learned from Daredevil as she had guessed the structure of his musculature its cords and sinews were entirely different in structure from a human giving him the strength to lift two elephants on an average day she couldn't wait till he put to use.

For a second he pondered whether it was still a little early to be doing this they had both made some big steps but he didn't believe she had fully opened up not a whole in her psyche that needed to be slowly filled but a guarded presence. The Spider told him that it could drag it out to the surface if he gave in a little or else mold her to something even more to his liking perhaps a second a true spider lady but he resisted easily enough.

"What's wrong?" she asked

"…It's complicated but if now or in the future you feel the least bit unsafe around me or like your losing some of your mental faculties around me I want you to incapacitate me if you can run if you can't especially if I'm not talking much can you do that?"

"Of course. This is about your totemic nature right?"

"Yes."

"Well maybe I've already caught you in my web." She briefly smiled then grew impatient. "Let's get on with it!"

Peter knew that he should do something a little experimental before they got down to business feeling a little out of his element he thought of what to do after scratching off using his webbing since he'd done that the other night he came to another idea to tease her. As his hands roved over her form he found where he wanted and used his adhesive powers to simultaneously tug at her breasts and clit at first skilled. Having endured torture before Natasha was skilled at hiding pain or pleasure in doing so she hoped to drive him to work harder but she couldn't hide her satisfaction for long and Peter was encouraged by her sounds of pleasure. He started working on her nipples as well and continued for a few seconds.

"Good enough for you?"

"I'm not sleeping through it if that's your asking."

Peter ceased his work and the two started kissing and roaming each other's bodies then moved into position as he inserted himself. Neither kept any sort of track but the spy had never felt as much pain or pleasure with another man as her lover was using as much force as he dared on a non-powered woman more so perhaps even than that as he reminded himself she had some knock off of the super soldier serum running through her veins and he seriously worried about the damage he might inflict. It wasn't as intimate as two people performing who could practically knew and loved other's core personality their souls in the fullest sense nor was it as exciting or powerful as engaging with someone like Jess or Carol but Peter thought she could definitely beat Sable if she performed an equal share of the work.

After some time. Natasha went limp and uttered a few words "Peter the Great." and then some Russian before consciousness completely left her. After a moment Peter collapsed as well not bothering to remove himself from her entrance. It had been a very busy day he'd need to recuperate. He didn't need to sleep the night 2 or 3 hours sleep was all he really needed most nights but he'd stay for her just as he used to stay each night for another.

…

Meanwhile at the Machiavelli Club Senator Kelly was meeting with another congressmen. Norman Osborn was present in another booth conversing with Mac Gargan.

"The Avengers noble battle against the X-Men stopped the Phoenix but it seems the battle was still a loss there are hundreds of times more mutants now then there were yesterday we need to take action before they form an army and humanity is overrun. And we cannot expect their help the Avengers it seems are introducing more of mutantkind into their ranks."

"I agree but I hope your plan is better than the last one you suggested." One of the senators replied

"It is patenting the X-Gene remains the key we will purchase a controlling interest in this new gene therapy company which will submit patent applications for the X-Gene gene patents haven't been reformed yet so it'll pass and then the company can use eminent domain law to compel the US government to capture mutants "for humane observation, treatment and product development." We will only target the worst of the worst removing them from society and then a study will be conveniently published from their work linking the behavior of the prisoners with the X-Gene."

"Does the X-Gene have a documented effect on behavior?"

"That's irrelevant."

The company will then make use of the law to capture and cure every mutant we can get our hands on before it can be repealed.

"That plan is better but public opinion will turn by the end do you really want to put your face on it?"

"I'm more than happy to put up with some misplaced infamy if it means the preservation of the human race."

"What of Spider-Man the announcement he made followed by the legislative changes in Symkaria looks like King Ben might turn people's minds away from our way of thinking."

"The rise of Mr. Reilly is an unfortunate development but we can discredit him."

"You've got an ace up your sleeve?"

"Let's just say I know some people who could free a Skrull or two from their incarceration and plant within his team."

"Suppose you could convince a Skrull to work for us I don't think they'd want to risk recapture by engaging in some kind of attack while wearing his or one of his friends faces."

"I was thinking more along the lines of simple surveillance. Everyone has some skeletons in their closet and I'm sure the wall crawling freak has some we could make public. We've got an alien that infiltrated the Fantastic Four for years and they were the ones that discovered the Skrulls."

"So what's our time frame?"

"I haven't decided yet but it must be soon."

None of the figures present noticed the form of Polemarchos and his four lieutenants observing them from another booth or a red bird fly past.

**Make sure to Read and Review I want your thoughts on everything. As a lifelong member of the Cult of Gwen who converted to MJ's side around the time I started writing these stories I couldn't resist putting a debate in. Jessica's a sub now but I'm not having any dominance in any of my stories. What about Drew's metamorphosis is it over or should it continue if so what physical, mental or power changes would you want? What of the Peter and MJ's fragments of the ****Phoenix**** force? Hope? Elektra? ****Elizabeth****? I'm going to go back and finish Eventful before I get more work done on the next story Spider-Men but if we're going dimension hooping and bringing in some of Ultimate Peter's girls would anyone want some DC women to be displaced into 616 New York while we're at it. Once again I must reiterate that while I have made a lot of adjustments that will allow me to get more done I'm almost certain I can't finish this series on my own I need a successor or at least a co-author after Phase 1 ends with Family Business II. Thank you for being so patient in waiting for updates and don't forget to check out my other story Spider-Man: Group Therapy.**


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